just to clarify the whole mohabbot book thing. there’s a writer A who wrote a mohabbot fanfic and then “writer” B copied writer’s A story and is publishing that as an original story? and which IP are you talking about? Intellectual property or the computer/phone internet address? sorry! thanks for the help :)
So there's one person, Emily Adama (@houseofadama on Tumblr, she's deactivated twt) who wrote a mohabbot fic called body talks and posted it on AO3. She then changed the names (barely for Samira) and is publishing it titled body language, with art that is very clearly Mohan and Abbot (but taller like let a short king live lol).
The IP is the intellectual property. The Pitt's IP is owned I believe by HBO Max, that's typically how shows work, the network owns the rights to any and all creations related to the show. Meaning no one else can profit off of depictions of the characters, the plots, etc. Fanfiction writers historically have gone through periods of being hunted, doxxed, sued by IP holders (Anne Rice for example HATED fanfic and went after everyone), because IP holders tend to have lots of money and time and lawyers and fanfic writers typically don't. There are fewer instances of this happening with art and merch, probably for legal reasons I'm unclear on, but there have been purges on Etsy by IP holders of related merch that wasn't coded enough (think using Aziraphale and Crowley's names or ineffable husbands in the description instead of something like angel and demon, for example).
You can, 100000%, rework a story that was originally fanfic, that even was posted on AO3, and have it published, either diy or indie or trad pub. I can think of at least 3 books off the top of my head that were big hits that started that way, and I am thrilled for the authors, it's great. BUT If you do that, you have to "file the serial numbers off"—fanfic kind of by definition, if it's good (with some exceptions like some niche AUs), is going to be readable as the characters from the show/book/game/whatever. it's going to have references to IP protected plot points. Authors who have successfully filed serial numbers off go back through, they rewrite the text, they use it as an outline of sorts. You have to make it original or else you are begging for a lawsuit. And worse imo, you are wishing a lawsuit on every other fanfic writer and creator out there—if an IP holder gets pissed that someone else is making profit off of something they legally are the only ones allowed to, as incredibly rich and powerful people, can very easily destroy fandoms over this. This is why it's a problem. It just cannot be identifiable as the original IP.
idk what the publisher is thinking, even with the growing acceptance of fanfic, the copyright law hasn't changed and massive corporations haven't gotten less greedy or capricious. It's a massive risk to everyone involved and every person who makes fandom content.
