Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43025
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

 **No, absolutely not.**

Copyright owners have the exclusive right to produce derivative works based on their properties. Thus, using Ender himself as a character in your story without permission from the copyright owner - even for one scene, even for one sentence - is copyright infringement. It doesn't matter where your work is published, it doesn't matter if you're selling it or accepting donations or not profiting in any way except publicity.

The exceptions are:

- **Criticism**. You write a (usually) nonfiction work and talk about Card's novel (or the movie, or both) in it. [Example of criticism.](https://johnjosephkessel.wixsite.com/kessel-website/creating-the-innocent-killer)

- **Parody**. You write a work of fiction to deliberately make fun of Card's work. Note that comedy and satire are not necessarily parody: _the artistic qualities of the work itself_ must be the subject of commentary, criticism and ridicule. For example, you can't have Ender get deployed to the Middle East to criticize US presence in Iraq, but you can have Ender get deployed to the Middle East and fail catastrophically to showcase Card's bad (in your opinion) grasp of real military tactics. [Example of parody.](https://www.xkcd.com/241/)

- **Nominative use**. You can have characters in your work of fiction read, think about, and discuss Card's novels, the movie, or the character of Ender. [Example of nominative use.](https://www.xkcd.com/304/)

Importantly, even if you keep to these three exceptions, there's still a possibility that (1) you get sued and (1a) lose or (1b) win the suit but not your legal costs, or that (2) your work is deleted by the hosting platform (Youtube, Wordpress, etc) (2a) following a copyright complaint or (2b) for no reason at all.

- If a copyright complaint is involved, try contacting free speech nonprofits such as the [Electronic Frontier Foundation](https://www.eff.org/).

- If a "free" platform arbitrarily deletes your work as their Terms of Service allow them to, they're legally in the right and your best bet is making noise and creating PR problems for them. There have been cases when the copyright holder intervened on behalf of the _critic_ to bring their content back to the platform.

If your case does not fall under fair use, you need to get permission from the copyright owner and _hire a lawyer_, preferably before you invest time and money into producing your work. Some owners are bound by pre-existing obligations and cannot actually issue new permissions at will. Words of encouragement on Twitter are not legally binding and won't hold up in court against Tor or Lionsgate.

Original score: 3