Memeries Are Made Of This

This blog is about memes. Memeries is not a spelling mistake. 

It may not be a word, but perhaps it should be. There is no approved term for a person who creates memes, either. I have seen "memer", "memester", and "memesmith" used by the legal bloggers, to whom I will give credit when I turn to the copyright-relate/Intellectual property aspects of memes.

Apparently, "meme" is a relatively recent name for a behavior and art form that has been enjoyed (or not) for decades, if not millennia. Before the internet and social media, there were probably no copyright concerns with an idea (one cannot copyright an idea) and a design that had to be copied by hand, and often from memory, every time it was expressed.

Take "Kilroy Was Here", which some World War II wags adapted to "Kilroy Was Stuck Here". One does not claim that there is a tally mark in the caves of the Hellfire Club saying "Kilroy Was Laid Here", because that preceded the original Kilroy. The club members used pseudonyms, so one could imagine that there might have been a "Fitzroy".... Fitzroy means bastard son of the king.

 

"Kilroy Was Here" was a message of encouragement to the metaphorical cavalry, a message of one-upmanship from the special forces who dropped in behind enemy lines in advance of the invasion force, a taunt to the enemy, and much much more.

 

There are some (a few) amusing Viking memes, which are modern. If the historical Vikings left memes, they were probably runes. Hobo signs would be another form of messaging, but might not qualify as a meme, because they are coded tips and hints. 

 

Roman soldiers, navigators, and road builders might well have left their own popular graffiti. Perhaps aliens visited us in ancient times, or more recently, and left memes or markers... or inspired them. What if crop circles are a seeries of alien memes?

It would probably be in very poor taste to suggest that Captain James Tiberus Kirk left his own "Kilroy Was Here" marker at all stops on his stellar trek in the form of his DNA, so I won't.

 

The blog for the law firm Dennemeyer and Associates SA, gives a concise and fascinating history of memes, and discusses whether or not memes can be intellectual property, both for the creator of an original meme who wishes to protect his/her/their rights, and as a warning for the exploiter of someone else's intellectual property without permission in the creation or dissemination of a meme.

https://www.dennemeyer.com/ip-blog/news/can-memes-be-intellectual-property/

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=281f3efc-f879-48e7-8986-ef41a84a4c83

"Memes are often transformative works that copy portions of other media. But the mere fact that parts of a meme are reproductions of earlier work does not necessarily prevent aspects of it from being separately protected. Copyright can subsist in facets of a meme that are "original" by dint of being novel or by having transformed an earlier work. Commonly, these constituents are:

• Photographs
• Sound effects
• Text
• Drawings
• Video
• Music

Copyright would vest separately in each of the works listed above — depending on the specific regulations of the relevant jurisdiction(s). So far, so good. The real sticking point is that not all the copyrighted aspects of a meme necessarily belong to the same person."

  

The copyright infringement possibilities in memes interests me. Presumably, a meme creator (or sharer) might face multiple layers of potential trouble if they were to take AOC's infamous "Tax the Rich" dress, and swap out her face for that of, say, Mitt Romney. Of course, such an image would have to tickle the fancy of thousands of social media users, and it would have to deeply offend one of three parties.

There was a similar case in India. Legal bloggers for RK Dewan and Co discussed an instance where a memer took a cut out of a photograph of one person, and superimposed it on a photograph of another person wearing a notorious dress. Indian courts found that this was a violation of the fundamental rights of one of the persons, therefore, any "fair use" defense was disallowed.

The compilation probably suggested something hypocritical or derogatory, and obviously false about the apparent dress-wearer.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/documents.lexology.com/326e61a2-86f4-422b-bd4d-fbfe8966b7d9.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAVYILUYJ754JTDY6T&Expires=1658064824&Signature=Iu7JPw0F0Qwf8OX9rv9HvRpTUUA%3D

Under American libel laws, a public figure who is offended enough to sue, has to prove actual malice. I am not a lawyer, I do not give legal advice.

Blogging for another Indian law firm, SS Rana and Co, legal bloggers Ananyaa Banerjee and Soumya Sehgal discuss different types of memes, potential liability and copyright protection.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/documents.lexology.com/a7d83528-2398-4be7-91c2-62e00d76381f.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAVYILUYJ754JTDY6T&Expires=1658065359&Signature=tvqTy1SIb8bl8dVuIH9lrzTt4hg%3D

Legal blogger Nicole Bergstrom for the ip and media law blog of Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz  discussed a meme and an apparently transformative fake meme, that may or may not have parodied the original, and the lawsuit that resulted.

"What you may not have known is that the parents of the toddlers sued Cook, Donald Trump and the Trump campaign in New York State court.  The suit alleged that the use of the video violated the boys' New York privacy and publicity rights law (N.Y. Civil Rights Law §§50 and 51) and was was either an intentional ("IIED") or negligent infliction of emotional distress ("NIED").  The crux of the case was an allegation that Trump used the video for “advertising purposes and/or for the solicitation of patronage for Trump in the State of New York," and that Cook, who makes money off of his memes, also profited.  Cook, Trump and the campaign all moved to dismiss."

https://ipandmedialaw.fkks.com/post/102h343/meme-is-fake-newsworthy

I infer that, if you give permission for your minor children to star in one meme, you have no right to claim that their privacy is violated if the original meme is recycled.  It is probably a bad idea to exploit under age children in any context, no matter how well intentioned and heartwarming the meme.

Now for something completely different...apart from the Gutfeldesque possibility that "meme" rhymes with "theme".

Here’s another reason to join SFWA, because they have a really cool, “themes” vehicle to give Instagram users insights into the lives and creative processes of SFWA member authors.

https://www.instagram.com/accounts/login/?next=/sfwa_inc/

They’ve set up templates to develop graphics featuring their members' writing-related photos, short videos, and covers or title screenshots of their members' creative works.

"·         Monday Furry Funday: Highlighting photos of member pets, and their "contributions" to your work.

·         Tuesday Writing Tips: Sharing short videos (10 seconds to 2 minutes) featuring the member sharing insights into their own processes or general writing tips.

·         Writing Desk Wednesday: Highlighting photos of members’ writing desks and setups or of their views while writing. 

·         Three-Phrase Thursday: Sharing cover photos, title pages, or screenshots of a creative work, combined with a three-phrase description of the work.

·         First Line Friday: Sharing the first 1–3 sentences of a member's work."

Find out about joining SFWA at https://membership.sfwa.org/

All the best,

 

Rowena Cherry 

SPACE SNARK™  

http://www.spacesnark.com/   

http://www.rowenacherry.com

 

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (12 of 16)

Of Arcs and Standalones, Part 6: Cliffhangers and Conclusions

This is the twelfth of fifteen posts dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science fiction series.

Last week, we talked mainly about the cons (but also some of the pros) of series arc sequel hooks or cliffhanger endings, which are almost always part and parcel to the Overarching Series gig. Let's talk about the how readers combat the disadvantages of cliffhanger endings, make the most of their advantages, along with the role publication dates of installments play in selling series books.

Many readers generally buy the books in a series that appeals to them as they become available, re-reading the previous…or not. Things are forgotten, major and minor clues, details or nuances are overlooked, and the series simply isn't as rich as it could have been with the installments are read closer together. A lot of people I know won't read any books in a series until all of them are available, then they binge-read them one right after the other.

Publishers are very aware that readers are impatient these days and series books do tend to be released back-to-back, but what that spells from one publishing house to the next is debatable. Some release books in a series one a year, though these days that could definitely lead to bored readers who find comfort in the arms of another series instead. Two or three per year seems wiser, but that's not always doable either, since publishers now expect the authors to do the majority of the promotion and finding time to not only write new books fast and well but also to market the published ones so momentum can build while the books are still in the public eye can lead to creative acrobatics that frequently unsuccessful. Authors and publishers need to make the most of the advantages cliffhanger endings can have on story installments. For that reason, timing publication dates plays a key role in selling series books.

Two authors I talked to mentioned the crux of this issue:

Luisa Buehler: “The books have to be well written and create the word of mouth buzz every author hopes will occur. With the first book of a series, if it takes off, the second one needs to be coming out close enough to keep the buzz going."

N.J. Walters: “The advantage of releasing series books back-to-back is that readers don’t have time to forget about it. The disadvantage is the writer can’t work on anything else. It really pushes you into a time crunch and can make you sick of writing the series.”

I also talked to a number of publishers about how important the spacing of titles in a series is. Anticipation is as crucial as momentum. The author's writing pace is also a factor. Most publishers prefer to work with authors who have proven they can meet the challenge of writing quality books in a short amount of time.

The solution for me when it came to my science fiction series, which relied so heavily on series arc sequel hooks in the first three installments that would either allow my readers to anticipate the follow-up book or ditch the series altogether, was to write them all back-to-back. That way, I didn't have to feel rushed to produce a volume on a timetable that certainly wasn't my own. This also allowed for strict quality control. Additionally, I could make corrections in earlier books if something changed the further along I progressed or if a consistency issue was caught at any point.

In previous posts in this series, I talked about authors who are in the middle of a long, popular series who have left readers dangling for countless years between installments. I won't be too hard on those writers here, I promise. I can't imagine the pressure they feel that at times must reach the pinnacle of outright terror and could very definitely impact the quality of their writing. I would absolutely hate feeling like practically the whole world was waiting on me to deliver. Nothing about this scenario appeals to me, though authors who have gone through this situation have all the money and fame a writer could possibly ever wish for. Add to an already ponderous burden, what if readers are disappointed when the author finally provides series arc resolution with the final volume? If there are special types of hell for writers, that's one right there for sure.

I prefer to limit my story potential development as well as plan my series installments early enough (see my previous posts for specifics about these) with full-on outlines to be certain that each one is the highest quality I can manage and I'm sure even before I begin work on the project that I can finish the series in a satisfactory way.

I wrote my sci-fi series over the course of over 2 years and had numerous critique partners who helped me along the way. When I finally offered all four books to my publisher at once, they were all published in 2020 as close to back-to-back as editing allowed.

In the illustration below of snippets from one 5-star review received for each book in my Arrow of Time Chronicles (all from the same reviewer), I demonstrate how story and series arcs and even release date timing work on readers in the ideal:

Book 1: "I was so invested in the characters I couldn't stop. Wiesner has a way of drawing the reader in against a pulse-pounding backdrop of impending war and intergalactic destruction."

Book 2: "Continues with the same energy and intrigue as Book 1. Just finished and have already bought Book 3. I MUST see how these characters resolve their dilemmas."

Book 3: “The suspense just keeps rising and building! I found myself invested more and more. When I got to the end, I almost screamed. Then I discovered there was a final book already available. Whew!"

Book 4: "Book 4 brought a satisfyingly suspenseful end. At the end of Book 3, I wanted--needed--an ending to this story of all the lives brought into my world. Whether sci-fi or romance fan, you will love this series with all its complex plotlines striving valiantly toward a common, triumphant end."

Next week, we'll talk about random surprises (including reader expectations that aren't always met) that I learned in the course of writing my first sci-fi series.

Happy writing!

Based on Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space): 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection by Karen S. Wiesner (release date TBA)

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series, including the romantic science fiction series, ARROW OF TIME CHRONICLES

https://www.writers-exchange.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles.html

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

The Crisis and the Swerve

Cory Doctorow's column in this month's LOCUS, whether you fully agree with his view of the global situation or not, displays an impressive deployment of an extended metaphor:

The Swerve

This essay compares the climate change problem to a speeding bus about to crash off a cliff. Should we grab the wheel from the driver and swerve off the road at high speed, even at the risk of a disastrous crash? As you'll notice a few sentences into the essay, Doctorow holds an extreme view of the inevitable severity of climate change. Yet he ends with an ultimately (though guardedly) optimistic conclusion that total catastrophe can still be avoided. But, in his opinion, we've come too far already to evade the damage inherent in the swerve.

This is how he describes the scenario at the beginning of the article:

"We’re all trapped on a bus. The bus is barreling towards a cliff. Beyond the cliff is a canyon plunge any of us will be lucky to survive. Even if we survive, none of us know how we’ll climb out of that deep canyon. Some of us want to yank the wheel. The bus is going so fast that yanking the wheel could cause the bus to roll. There might be some broken bones. There might be worse than broken bones. The driver won’t yank the wheel."

In Doctorow's formatting, however, each of those sentences sits on a line by itself. Arranged that way, the opening can't fail to grab a reader's attention. The alarm and urgency of his message come through loud and clear. He goes on to condemn climate change denial, express his disapproval of "incrementalism," and discuss some of the public responses to the problem, positive and negative, that have been proposed or attempted so far.

It seems to me that one significant reason why many people don't believe we're about to drive off a cliff is that climate degradation is a "slow catastrophe." It doesn't evoke immediate alarm like an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The effects of global climate shifts sneak up on us over a span of years or decades. So those who think we still have plenty of time to deal with the crisis aren't necessarily greedy, callous, or oblivious.

Doctorow estimates that in 1992 we still had the option of "building a bridge" across the canyon. By now, he asserts, we've lost the opportunity of "averting the disaster" and instead must focus on "surviving the disaster." Still, he comes to an optimistic conclusion, for a certain value of "optimistic." He describes the potential "happy ending" in terms of the extended metaphor this way:

"We’ll swerve. The bus will roll. It will hurt. It will be terrible. But we won’t be dead on canyon floor. We’ll fix the bus. We’ll make it better. We’ll get it back on its wheels. We’ll get a better driver, and a better destination."

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS...OR, DISASTER

Sometimes, one simply has to eat the right thing. Yes, eat it.

In my case, the right thing to eat might be sardines. My gynecologist tells me that I am the only patient she knows who eats --or claims to eat-- sardines, which is a pity for everyone else, because sardines are exceptionally good for a body.

https://www.lifehack.org/291464/20-surprising-health-benefits-sardines

I created my own, unique recipe for kedgeree using sardines instead of haddock or kippers, and I wrote it into a scene in my first book, "Forced Mate".

Here is someone else's kedgeree recipe. To wit, John Torode's.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/kedgeree

And another, by Cara Cormack.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/super-easy-kedgeree-recipe-435296

For my kedgeree, I variously (depending what I have to hand) add oysters and mushrooms for the complimentary benefits of zinc and magnesium, also onions, garlic, parsley, clams to the sardines and brown rice. I also add extra turmeric with the curry, and black pepper for obvious reasons...(because the piperine in black pepper boosts the bioavailability of the curcumin in turmeric.)

Then, as covert blatant self-promotion, I gave some copies of my Forced-Mate-related kedgeree recipe to my doctor and gave her permission to copy and distribute. I got a lot of traffic

Recipes can be a great promotional medium for authors, but are there legal implications for using a recipe in your book, and sharing that recipe?  Maybe it depends whether the recipe is entirely your own creation, or comes from someone else.

As a basic rule of thumb, ideas and facts cannot be copyrighted, so if all you lift from someone else is a list of ingredients, and a "to-do" list of what to do with the ingredients, and in what order, you are probably not on a sticky wicket if you transcript something off the internet. Transcribe. Don't cut and paste, because you might trawl up some unique and creative expressions, and while ideas cannot be copyrighted, the expression of them can be.

Legal blogger Brian Murphy of the lawfirm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC shares a perfect example of an original recipe and a non-infringing copy of it. 

https://advertisinglaw.fkks.com/post/102hert/vegan-dog-treats-and-copyright

No author can claim ownership, under copyright law, of facts or ideas; copyright law protection extends only to the original way an author expresses facts or ideas. This “idea/expression dichotomy,” derives from Article I, section 8, clause 8 of the Constitution and is codified in Section 102(b) of the Copyright Act: “[i]n no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.”

It helped the defendants' case that their illustrations, layout, color schemes were different from the plaintiff's, and of course they omitted the original's creative suggestions for wine pairings, personal reminiscences, poetic turns of phrase, and idiosyncratic expressions.

The topic of the copyrightability of cook books was discussed in a paid course a while ago, entitled, "Whose Dish Is It Anyway." Some insights are available on the events page.

https://www.csusa.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1612989&group=

Meanwhile, for a more global perspective, the IP law firm covering Africa and the USA, Vazi Legal, blogged recently on Lexology about recipes, copyright disputes and choices such as trademarking, trade secrets protections, or patenting recipes if they are worth trying to monetize and protect.

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=a74fa87f-f4aa-4112-9497-263ab9e247df

Their article answers the question, "Can I protect my recipe and tasty creations?" and the tiny excerpts copied here are no substitute for reading the entire piece.

Vazi Legal shares that:

"Copyrights give the authors or creators an exclusive right of original works of authorship fixed in a tangible form of expression. Typically these works include literary, artistic (dramatic), and musical works. Copyright protection will only cover creations that are not intangible. Thus, copyrighting a recipe is only possible when expressed literally."

And also that:

A recipe classified as a literary work for legal purposes does not prevent another party from applying it to make a dish. Hence, copyright protection can only protect the written recipe from being republished and not the recipes themselves. Same with a cookbook. Even a slight change in the order of the ingredients to reproduce a cookbook will devoid the initial recipe from enjoying copyright protection since food ingredients are not exactly creative works. However, a chef may add creativity to the cookbook and strengthen copyright protection by including an original literary commentary.

Protection depends on whether or not your recipe has a distinctive name that can be trademarked. Perhaps, a science fiction or fantasy author might create the otherworldly equivalent of "Pringles" as a low volume, low weight, insanely nutritious snack that would work in all gravities. The name might be trademarked. The formula might be patented.

Turning to the UK, because we do have some UK readers...

The UK law firm Killburn and Strode has a superb article by Rowena Tolley (partner) and Kathryn Sayer about, amongst other things, recipes that are not trade secrets, and that may be in the public domain, as are, presumably, any blog that I shared about my own kedgeree recipe.

https://www.kilburnstrode.com/knowledge/technology/ip-for-the-recipe-revolution

"Specific literary expressions of recipes and accompanying photographs can be protected by copyright, as for other written works and photographs. However, copyright in a recipe as a literary work would allow you to stop people only from replicating the recipe in that particular form – i.e. it would only protect against republication of the written recipe itself, but not against copying of the actual edible output thereof..."

This article may be inspiring to science fiction/fantasy authors because of the potential protections in Britain for meat substitute compositions... for instance, the potential of mushrooms grown on interstellar craft might be fertile ground. (Groan.)

OK, perhaps not mushrooms, because Quorn has been there, done that.

https://www.quorn.us/products/quorn-meatless-grounds

But what if you called it, "Celia"? This is not legal advice. I am just a blogger.

As the Kilburn and Strode lawyers say:

 "... it’s not impossible – patents have been granted at the EPO for meat replica compositions amongst other foodstuffs, though such subject-matter typically relates to the composition of ingredients used in food manufacturing, rather than to recipes for cooking at home or in restaurants per se. In the UK, a patent was also granted for a fish and chip batter which was found to be inventive because it reduces oil uptake during the frying process."

Legal blogger Dallin Wilson for the lawfirm Seyfarth Shaw LLP's  Trading Secrets blog has an absolute tale of woe about a waffle recipe. It is fun to read, a big name is dropped, but more recipe-related scuttlebutt than good advice for authors.  Nevertheless, her is the link.

https://www.tradesecretslaw.com/2022/04/articles/trade-secrets/one-of-our-favorite-things-are-lawsuits-about-stolen-secret-recipes/#page=1

One never knows what allegedly true anecdote might make a fortune for an author or screenwriter....

All the best,

Rowena Cherry 

SPACE SNARK™ 

http://www.spacesnark.com/   

http://www.rowenacherry.com

EPIC Award winner, Friend of ePublishing for Crazy Tuesday