Other author's work as inspiration - how far can I go?

[ExCalibris]

I've seen many visual novels that are based off works of other authors, the most popular source would be Alice in Wonderland, I think. I also saw Japanese otome game developers use fairytales or retell them in their own way, too. It's relatively clear that they won't have any copyright issues with those.

So now I wanted to write a story which is based on a collection of short stores by an author who passed away in 1950 (the stories were written in 1939, they are relatively unknown outside of my country). It's a very interesting, fairytale-like universe and I wanted to use it as an inspiration and tell a new story in a similar universe with a special twist. First and foremost, I absolutely adore these short stories and I hope that, perhaps, my visual novel would attract more people to check them out and interest them in a foreign culture.

However, I began thinking of copyright issues and I was wondering just how far one can go, considering the fact that this is non-commercial work. (I would still use the same universe but tell a different story.)
It's a given that most people parody Alice in Wonderland or Grimm's Fairytales without a second thought, but since my source of inspiration is a relatively recently written and published work, it might be a different matter.

What's your opinion on it?

[fleet]

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. For legal advice contact an attorney.
Since this is not a commercial release, change the characters and location names and don't use the identical plot and you should be okay.

[Ozitiho]

I think Alice and Grimm stuff is in public domain by now, so you can knock yourself out with that even if you were commercial... Also, copyright lasts around 70 years after the authors death depending on the country where it was published. You mentioned it was released 50 years ago so it's probably still protected...

Other than that, you're pretty safe to make non-commercial fan products. The guy above me mentioned changing the names but that's not necessary at all. You're pretty much safe to do anything you like as long as you're sure you don't make a single penny off it. That includes ads on the website where you decide to upload it.

Criminal copyright infringement requires that the infringer acted “for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain".

My OPINION is though that fan works on things that already have loads of fan works are super lame. Such as for example Twilight, Harry Potter, Walking Dead etc... I quite like Alice fan works though. Basically as long as it's not over-saturated with horrible fan works, they're cool.

[Mad Harlequin]

Other than that, you're pretty safe to make non-commercial fan products. The guy above me mentioned changing the names but that's not necessary at all. You're pretty much safe to do anything you like as long as you're sure you don't make a single penny off it. That includes ads on the website where you decide to upload it.

This is a common misconception. A lack of profit has nothing to do with whether it's legal to mess with a property whose copyright you do not hold. A few authors and properties may be more lenient regarding certain derivative works, like fanart, but that's not a general rule to be followed. A fanfiction of a currently copyright-protected work, or a fangame, for example, will go over the line. Anne Rice, for example, doesn't tolerate fanfiction derived from her work. Fifty Shades of Grey had to undergo name swaps---and other changes, I'm sure---to go its own way; it was originally AU Twilight fanfiction. And Hasbro chases down anybody who dares to publicize a My Little Pony fangame. I think there's one on here, actually, that is clearly MLP-based, but the names had to be changed.

But inspiration is different from using someone else's work as the solid foundation for your own. If you're inspired by these stories and want to tell a similar story in a similar kind of universe, that's okay. It just can't be the same.

[YossarianIII]

I also want to put on my totally-not-a-copyright-lawyer hat for a second. I'm not advising you to do anything in particular, just mentioning some things that seem to be lesser known and which may be helpful for deciding.

One thing some people don't realize is that copyright law varies from country to country. A book can be public domain in the UK but copyright protected in the US. So a quick Google of your own country's laws is a decent starting point.

If your looking for rights or permission to use someone else's work, pretty much every publisher will have a way to contact their rights and permissions department by email or web form. (Which means you probably don't have to do a crazy Internet search to find the author's surviving relatives or anything like that if you're interested in asking about copyright status...) Again, you're probably better off Googling to see what applies for you specifically.

That's if you're actually using someone else's words/world/characters/etc. Inspiration is more of a gray area and would depend on how substantial the similarities are...

Of course copyright enforcement isn't always to the letter of the law, which is what leads to fan fiction, mash-ups, uncleared samples on rap mixtapes, etc. The prevalence of these things makes some people think they're legal, but generally they're not, so there are risks involved.

[ExCalibris]

Thank you for your help, everyone! I'll use your advice and think more about what I'm going to do, your opinions helped me a lot. There are so many people that don't think of possible consequences, but I'd prefer to stay clear of the gray zone.