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Myth number six goes into fan fiction. I keep bringing up fan fiction because it's a tricky issue concerning copyright.

"Now, as it turns out, many, but not all holders of popular copyrights turn a blind eye to "fan fiction" or even subtly encourage it because it helps them. Make no mistake, however, that it is entirely up to them whether to do that."

Mostly Japanese holders will allow this more than European or American holders (i.e. Anne Rice and Sylvester Stallone). This is great because the majority of fan fiction is based off of Japanese animation.

I defend it so much because not only is it fun to read but it's also a great tool for beginning writers. Young people who want to write, but can't think of something original just yet, are able to create their own plots and use their favorite fandoms, characters, and/or settings as a tool to get them started. Think of it as sort of like training wheels.

There are many interactive archives and sites that these writers can post their works and will receive reviews and hopefully: free and easy constructive criticism.

Eventually a fan fiction writer might become bored with his or her fandom, and might wander off to try their own thing, where they can post it in an "original" section of the archive of his or her choice. Such sites include fictionpress.net, an archive built just like fanfiction.net or mediaminer.org but completely dedicated to original works. Again, a writer at one of these types of archives can receive free constructive criticism and reviews.

Some sites even offer other tools, like beta readers (people who will check your work for grammar, spelling errors and other little details) and writer workshops. This usually all comes free since it's fan fiction and it's in no one's legal benefit to make a profit from a technically copied piece of work.

Not only does fan fiction get new writers brain-storming new work, but it sometimes also helps the copyright holders too. For example, like I've mentioned before I'm a huge fan of Anne Rice's work, and thoroughly enjoyed fan fiction based on her series. But when she put her foot down on fan fiction (which she's in the legal right to do) she lost some very loyal fans in the process. I wanted to know what would happen to some of my favorite fan fiction writers after this, and I noticed that the majority of them were migrating to an anime called Gundam Wing. I utterly fell in love with and am a loyal fan of that series now, and have purchased products based on that series (I bet Bandai loves Anne Rice because of that).

Maybe that's why not many people fight Doujinishi that much, because you can't very well go out and buy one without first having some basic knowledge of the series it's based on. And if you do end up buying the Doujinshi first you might become intrigued in it enough to become interested in the series, which results in profit for the copyright holders in some manner. It might be watching the show on TV (ratings), or buying the manga (comic book) or renting or buying one of their videos (anime shows on DVD are very expensive. Even on sale they're still about $30).

So if that's the case it's no wonder why most copyright holders would turn a blind eye.