Comment by msla

> You are perfectly entitled to write that Star Wars fanfic.

Nope. It's a derivative work, and, as such, requires the permission of the people who own the copyright and trademarks.

> You are not entitled to make money off it

This matters less than you may think. There's a four-part test [1], and profit is considered, but the work not being for-profit doesn't make the work legal.

[1] https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107

Here's an old-ish article I like to link to, on Waxy.org, called "No Copyright Intended":

https://waxy.org/2011/12/no_copyright_intended/

> Under current copyright law, nearly every cover song on YouTube is technically illegal. Every fan-made music video, every mashup album, every supercut, every fanfic story? Quite probably illegal, though largely untested in court.

By all means, read the whole thing.

Here's a lawyer's take on it:

https://www.traverselegal.com/blog/can-derivative-works-be-c...

> Image yourself an artist (of any sort) who has drawn such great inspiration from another (copyrighted) work that you would like to modify that work to create something new. Are you allowed to do so? Could you get a copyright to your new creation? As with most questions in law, the answer is: it depends.

> “A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship” (17 U.S.C. § 101) is called a Derivative Work. The original copyright owner typically has exclusive rights to “prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work” (17 U.S.C. § 106(2)). It is considered copyright infringement to make or sell derivative works without permission from the original owner, which is where licenses typically come into play.

Again... make or sell. Not making a profit off the work doesn't necessarily protect you.