Actually there was some discussion about whether or not the tribbles were ripped off of The Rolling Stones by RAH. Martian Flat Cats were purry little martian critters that were born pregnant.
However, the hypothetical work described in the OP explicitly does.
Galaxy Quest
As if rats have never been a problem on ships in real life?
Flatcats and tribbles were not just fast breeding purring appetites, they were also originally valued as cute pets. Even regular Terrestrial cats will overrun the food supply in very short order, if they are allowed to breed as they will (see also Tuf Voyaging, by George RR Martin). So yeah, while rats have always been a problem on ships, the flatcats/tribbles are more closely modeled on cats, not rats, even though the reproduction rate is closer to rats than cats.
While a funny comeback, there’s actually (at least in USA law) protection specifically for criticism or parody, and I have a strong feeling that Galaxy Quest would fall under those if it were challenged.
However, just looking at it, there’s enough differences between Galaxy Quest and the various incarnations of Star Trek to make it stand on its own even without parody protection - it’s OBVIOUS to people who are fans of that genre that it’s a parody, but nothing specific to Star Trek was stolen - they created their own ship, their own “cute kid actor,” their own funny-forehead aliens with strange hangups, and especially important - created all their own catchphrases.
As I noted before, ideas are not protected by copyright law. You can have the same general plot.
Don Kingsbury wrote a very fine novel (Psychohistorical Crisis) based on Asimov’s Foundation universe. But he changed all the names. Trantor became Splendid Wisdom and Hari Seldon became The Philosopher. There was one race called The Frightful People (singular, Frightful Person), although there was nothing that suggested why. He told me he did this to avoid copyright hassles, but felt he was otherwise free to use Asimov’s universe. One curious thing I did notice was that he seemed to have copies Asimov’s timeline verbatim. IMHO, Kingsbury is a better writer than Asimov (but Asimov had all the great ideas).
Most importantly, the plot of Galaxy Quest is about a group of actors who made a TV show about travelling in space. The characters are loosely based on Shatner and Nimoy, not Kirk and Spock.
If you actually tried making a show with a character based on Kirk, and a character based on Spock, you would certainly run into copyright difficulties, even if you gave them different names and catchphrases.
You’re absolutely right, I missed that sentence.
In that case, it’s going to depend on how traceable the dialog is to the source. It’s going to be tough to prove that a character who likes to say, “You have got to be kidding me!” is from one specific work or another.
Nothing certain about it, especially since Kirk was based upon Horatio Hornblower (Roddenberry has admitted this).
The similarities would be noted, but it’s not necessarily copyright infringement, especially if the story was original.
Haha wow so much information! You guys are the best. I really don’t plan on getting anything published. I’ve never written a book before, and I’m more or less using this fan fiction as a way of cutting my teeth, so to speak, on the process. If I am really happy with the way it came out and people genuinely think I have a talent for writing, I’ll probably try to create my own book.
My fan fiction is actually more of a fleshed out novelization of the game itself, so there’s really no way I could get away with publishing it without permission from the game publisher. My inspiration was to make the story from the game more accessible, explore the character’s thoughts and motivations, and to work out some of the details that were glossed over in the actual game. I wanted basically anyone to be able to pick up my story and read it from cover to cover without having to have played the game, and still be able to enjoy it. So I guess fan fiction isn’t really the best term for it; I guess it’s more of a novelization.
That being said, if people really do like it and think it’s worth something, maybe I will try to contact the game publisher/developer and see what their policy is. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to ask, right?
Thanks for all the info though! Copyright law is very intricate and amazing, and I know a lot of it is just decided on a case by case basis. It’s interesting to learn about how so many people have borrowed from existing ideas and characters and turned them into their own.
Do you mind telling us what game it is?
Sure no problem. It’s basically a retelling of the main plots and events of Phantasy Star IV, with a little bit of before and after as well.