Fan*fiction* in particular is a legal grey area. (I used to work in a copyright office.) While the characters and universe are someone else's property, the fan author does actually have rights to any unique situation or character they bring to the mix.
Which is why TPTB tend to pointedly ignore fanfic.
George Lucas has always tried to split the difference - he once owned two copies of every fanzine put out - and he still says "you can do X, Y, and Z and I'll give you a forum to do it, but you can't do A, B, and C." Some fans were happy to play in his playground. Some wanted to do A, B, and C, and made sure it was far underground.
And then there were the dorks who had to wave the red flag just to see what happened.... and discovered that irritating the 800-pound gorilla isn't the brightest concept in the universe.
The Powers That Be seem to be quite happy pretending ignorance. It's a wise fan that makes it possible for them to keep that pretense up.
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Which is why TPTB tend to pointedly ignore fanfic.
George Lucas has always tried to split the difference - he once owned two copies of every fanzine put out - and he still says "you can do X, Y, and Z and I'll give you a forum to do it, but you can't do A, B, and C." Some fans were happy to play in his playground. Some wanted to do A, B, and C, and made sure it was far underground.
And then there were the dorks who had to wave the red flag just to see what happened.... and discovered that irritating the 800-pound gorilla isn't the brightest concept in the universe.
The Powers That Be seem to be quite happy pretending ignorance. It's a wise fan that makes it possible for them to keep that pretense up.