bihet-dragonize:

proudtoehaver:

dasakuryo:

imsfire2:

I contacted AO3 Support this morning and have just had a reply.  This is what they say:

“The OTW does not own the works posted on the Archive – they are all owned by their respective authors. For that reason, although the OTW can (and does) rely on trademark law to make sure that people don’t make confusing apps that would make people think the OTW or AO3 is associated with them, there’s nothing we can do about apps or services that contain works owned by AO3 users. That is up to the authors themselves, who own the copyrights in their fanworks.
“Many sites have procedures (known as DMCA takedown procedures) that allow copyright owners such as fan-authors to request that their works be removed. The Fanfic Pocket Archive Library may have such procedures.   Regardless of whether those procedures exist, copyright owners can always demand that their works be removed from places they are not authorized, and as a matter of copyright law, sites should comply with such demands.
“The Apple App store also has procedures for reporting apps that infringe copyright:  https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/appstorenotices/#?lang=en
The Google Play store has similar: https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905 ”
To be clear, to the best of our knowledge, the app is not wholesale scraping and storing data - they’re displaying content from the Archive in a very heavily modified format. The app functions as a very heavily modified site skin, with a few extra functions provided with your data within the app. Because the app’s subscription fee may be explained as “to support the app’s code base” and not for the content itself, it is within bounds. Our only suggestions are for the creators of the works to issue DMCA takedowns to the app developer, and to the appropriate app store if they find the developer response unsatisfactory.
We are also receiving reports about apps from a developer called Woodsign. We don’t have a comment regarding these apps at this time.”

So it seems my initial fear that this could be onstrued in legal terms as someone making money off fanfiction, thus awakening the IP dragon OTW do so much good work to keep under control, is mistaken.But just the same every one of us whose work appears on this app is having our copyright infringed.

Hopefully the two links will come through ok, for reporting the app to Apple App Store and Google Play store.

I gather from @ibonekoen​ that marking all one’s work on AO3 as for registered users only (under “Privacy” in the same section as tags, when you upload or edit) prevents the app from taking it; not sure how that works but passing the tip on.  I have 169 fics on AO3 so it’s going to take me a while to do that with all of mine!

ohstardustgirl:

Signal boosting. ALL of my fics are on this and the asshole developer is making money for them.

imsfire2:

I just tried to reblog another post about this but couldn’t for some reason.

This is really worrying.  Apart from the fact it’s a violation of what everyone who posts their writing on AO3 has accepted and signed-up for, it may also, as a couple of the commenters above point out, have serious legal implications. 

As I understand things, fanfiction is only legally allowed in certain very specific circumstances and one of the most fundamental of those is that no-one may make money off it.  But if someone is, I have no idea how that may affect both our status as fanfiction writers, or that of AO3 and the Organisation for Transformative Works itself.

Please report and challenge this in any way you can!

thebibliosphere:

“So I can have offline access to read fics”

You mean like the fucking free download feature Ao3 has and works on mobile for free.

justhereforthespn:

@thatgirlonstage @bettsfic @thebibliosphere

Y’all watch out, this app’s “selling” fan content posted on AO3

copper-wasp:

@synchronmurmurs Unfortunately I found all 43 of my works that are posted on AO3 are on that app; there’s a bunch of “midroll” ads when you’re scrolling down my author feed, as well as a header as every time you click on one of my stories to read.

I’m super not pleased that some rando is making money off of the things that I post for free on AO3. I’m also worried that this is going to end up being some IP thing?? Because all of my works are based on characters I didn’t create, so I hope this doesn’t end up coming back to bite me in the ass instead?

I’m also having a heck of a time reporting the app through Apple’s App Store, so if anyone knows the best way, please lmk!

synchronmurmurs:

Okay so I’m kinda still just waking up rn, but I had a peek at this app and there is a TON of fics on this thing. Like around 7.5k works? I only checked the DMC category, but I saw a ton of familiar names and fics listed.

Is anybody around who would know more about this sort of thing? Is reporting the app enough to give it a good old double barrel fuck off? Would this be counted as going against AO3’s ToS? I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to even MENTION money on that site, so how would that go for an unaffiliated app?

shiranyaaww:

Idk how to write psa but there’s an ‘unofficial’ AO3 app that steal a lot of fanfics. I saw mine and @synchronmurmurs fics in it too.

And it kinda monetize our work since they have subscription fee in it. (Refer third pic)

As an alternative to only letting registered users access your works, since this prevents readers who don’t have an ao3 account from reading your fics, you can add a # at the start of your author’s notes and at the start of every chapter. It throws off the app, messing up the access from it, and the content won’t show at all.

Good news, the app and a lot like it have been taken down from Apple’s and Google’s stores.

Bad news. OTW posted an official response to this earlier today and it confirms the above stance. This is for fanwriter to deal with. Not only will OTW/AO3 do nothing, they won’t protect us from any legal trouble that may come of having our fics monetized. Yes at least one of those apps straight up stole and reposted fics, then monetized it. 

And believe me when I say that depending on how aggressive a legal department is feeling about an IP it is holding, whether or not you consented to that may matter squat. They’ll sue you anyway and good luck defending yourself from a mastodon like say, Disney, if they get pissed about your Star Wars or MCU things.

That was what OTW was created to protect us from, being sued by IP holders, and part of that was that we can’t monetize our stories. We can’t even post a link to a kofi account.

But with this OTW have made a statement that what happens off the archive is no concern of theirs, certainly not legally. No matter that it was stolen from them. They’re going to take no steps to protect us, neither technically nor legally. Not now nor in the future. If our shit gets stolen, we’re on our own.

There literally is no reason any more to post on AO3 or to donate to them. Because they’ve betrayed their main purpose in existing, the whole foundation on which they were founded, name to protect fan creators. And OTW just said, “fuck that!”.

And people are literally thanking them for it.

To all the clowns that will eventually end up in my inbox: tell me how ao3 benefits you when they won’t even defend you work being stolen AND they are still asking for money just to not defend your work being stolen?