Important!! Re Pern-Related Art

On April 1, 1997, fan artist Dee Dreslough received a C&D notice from one of Anne McCaffrey's lawyers. 
See it here.
Her fan art was listed as being "inspired by Pern' but it did not use any copyrighted images from the book covers.In the book 'Will Fair Use Survive?', Dee noted that her dragons differed from the book descriptions in both structure (they had ears and proto-horns) as well as coloring (striped and multi-hued). See Will Fair Use Survive? Free Expression in the Age of Copyright Control By Marjorie Heins, Tricia Beckles published by Brennan Center for Justice, Free Expression Policy Project page 44; link page 1.. 
While her fan art was made freely available to her fellow fans, she did use the fan art examples as a means of soliciting commissions for her other art."It was a free art download site, but also an advertisement for my commission service..." See . After receiving the C&D she posted about it to the Usenet group alt.fan.pern. The ensuing discussion covered many topics, including fair use, the then Blue Ribbon campaign, the timing of Anne MCaffrey's C&D letters as they related to her ongoing attempts to sell the movie rights to the series.
The artist initially defended her right to create fan works inspired by the book series and to use the fan art as a means of generating commissions - however, she felt that the costs of defending her rights were too high and she removed her website, canceled a fanzine New Fanzine Forming post to alt.fan.pern dated Dec 31, 1996; archive link. and disbanded the fan club. 
She then later reversed course and apologized to Anne McCaffrey saying "It was wrong of me to associate Pern with my art without permission or licensing. I deserved to get hit with the rolled up newspaper, regardless of the niggling legalities of fair use and gray areas. Anne McCaffrey continues to amaze me with how gentle and understanding she is even when she is the wronged party. She is a most gracious person, and I can't express how sorry I am to have put her in any distress" .
==The C&D Letter==
==The Fan Artist's Initial Response==
==The Fan Artists Second Response==
==What Anne McCaffrey Said==
On May 2, 1997, the fan artist quoted an excerpt from a private email exchange she had with Anne McCaffrey:
==The Fan Artist's Third Response==
After quoting the excerpt from the Anne McCaffrey email, the artist offered a third response to the events:
==Her Website Disclaimer==
Still, even though the fan had been told she need not worry, the artist did place a prominent disclaimer on the remaining art at her website:
==Historical Context==
At the time the McCaffrey C&D letter was sent fandom had begun receiving more and more takedown notices from lawyers objecting to online fan fiction and fan art. This culminated in the X-Files fandom launching Free Speech Is Out There campaign. It leveraged from the existing EFF Blue Ribbon Campaign for free speech. 
Later the same person wrote:
==Fandom Responses==
==The Ripple Effect==
Two years later, fan artists continued to express worry over whether they would get sued for creating fan art based on Pern characters: 
Some readers advised placing fan art only on sanctioned club websites, not charging any fees and re-stating the author's required copyright and trademark notices: 
Others warned that fan artists' could draw fan art but should not show it to anyone:
One fan tried to offer more practical advise:
In a separate post one reader wondered why there was so little fan art for the book series: 
Fans pointed to the Dee Dreslough case as to why they were leery of producing fan art: 
In a third post one fan wondered: 
To which a reader replied:
In 2007, a fan who reviewed fantasy books read about Dee's encounters with Anne McCaffrey's lawyers and took steps to protect her blog from similar problems: 
==Post-script==
In 2000, the fan artist created a support group for fans who were the subject of C&D notices from copyright holders. An archived version of the website can be found here.
The support group was eventually disbanded but the author wrote:
==References==
Category:Dragonriders of Pern Meta
Category:1997 Meta
Category:Meta on Tumblr
Category:Fanart Meta