I've seen stories where the Author used a person's OC with permission. Sometimes, I don't. That could just be me, the author decided not to mention it in the story, or decided not to use permission.

But is it really okay?

5613216 Eh?

It's okay to ask just about anything. Asking is fine. Good manners, innit?

As for using OC's without permission, well, you might ruffle a feather or two, but consider that we're sort of all using Hasbro's OC's currently, and quite without permission might I add, so there isn't really a high horse for us to sit upon and whack the devious OC stealers from, you know?

5613216 It's probably not illegal, but it is a form of plagiarism. You are stilling someone else's work and portraying it as your own.

When I was inspired, I asked the creator for permission to use her OC in my story.

Depends on the size of the role. If you borrowed just the name, i.e. Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy went to a picnic, on the way they met 'Ociana' with her family, I wouldn't say permission would be that necessary, but still recomended. If it's for something bigger - major role or shipping, make sure to ask. And always give credit to the original author.

5613216 I don't understand the question. Are you asking if it's OK to use someone's OC with permission, or without permission? It's generally courteous to ask for permission, unless the author has explicitly stated that they don't mind people using their character without permission. And whether you have permission or not, it's always good to credit the original author.

5613225

Are you asking if it's OK to use someone's OC with permission, or without permission?

Yes.

5613227 That wasn't a yes or no question. I wanted you to pick one because I didn't understand your question.

5613220 I mean, Hasbro could shut down the creative brony community if they wanted to, but that's only limited to their characters.

I think they're being really lenient with us as a whole.

5613216 But to answer your question, you should really ask permission to use someone's OC. There are often things and scenarios that someone won't want to have their OC in, especially without prior permission. (And no, the irony of that last statement isn't lost on me, considering my previous statement.)

5613230 We're getting into the 'how legal is fanfiction' debate again, which unfortunately can be summed up as 'it's complicated'. I'd rather avoid that debate, because I'd make an awful lawyer and I don't want people to see how much I suck at it...

Thing is, whilst I'm all for general courtesy (I'm British, so manners is quite central to my national identity), I think it's a bit inconsistent to get all uppity about gents using a character you made up whilst also using Rainbow Dash in the story.

I tend to draw the line at nicking a whole story, because that's just lazy, but I'm quite chill about people using characters for their own stories. At least, in theory. It's derivative, innit?

5613228 Sorry I didn't understand, I meant if its OK to use someone's OC without Permission.

5613235 Well, someone else already gave a pretty good answer for that, so I'm sure you've gotten your answer by now.

5613244
That seems rather extreme. I would think the proper course of action would be to ask for the mention to be removed. You know, talking things out?

Edit: Apparently there are two people against talking things out.

5613235 I would say definatly not. It's someone's personal project, they put effort and work into it. Only exception as i see it is using a name, if they explcititly stated pernission is not neccesary or if you're producing a surprise gift fiction with the OC for it's owner

I think a lot of authors would be flattered if another author wanted to use their OC, but there are some exceptions. I like to at least tell someone ahead of time that I'm thinking about using their OC or a magical concept they invented and see how they respond.

5613325 I'd be pretty chuffed too, actually.

I mean, even if it's awful, it'd still be pretty neat to have had someone use your stuff. I think I'd only be super hacked off if they tried to make a profit off of it.

It's fanfiction of fanfiction. Nothing wrong with it other than someone will get upset for a day.

5613234

We're getting into the 'how legal is fanfiction' debate again, which unfortunately can be summed up as 'it's complicated'.

It's actually very easily summed up as "it isn't," not under any trademark law that I know of. It just isn't worth the bother of actually prosecuting. Fanfiction is, by default, a trademark infringement. It's just also a non-profit, non-commercial one that doesn't inflict any meaningful losses on the trademark holder, which is why we can get away with it.

5614129 Like I said, I don't really want to get into it, because I'm frankly not very well informed on the matter, or in fact, law in general, but last I checked, there are actually several ways of spinning it, either as a derivative work, non-profit fan work, or parodying, among others. There have been cases, both for and against fanfictions and other fan-work that have, as far as I know, gone both ways depending on circumstance on the occasion that both parties have decided to actually pursue the matter.

I'm given to understand Scoots2 is far more well versed than I on the matter, having discussed the matter in depth with an expert on fan-works or something. I stopped listening once I got the gist that, like most things, people have managed to make it pretty complicated.

5614144
Well, if what I was taught and what I've personally seen specifically in relation to derivative software products and modding is any indication, the general rule is "the moment some legitimate holder actually contests your work, you're boned." Specifics may vary depending on the applicable courts of both trademark holder and offender.

It boils down to a general affirmation of the whole "nobody here has any grounds to complain from," at any rate.

5614161 Well, to be fair, as a student with the income of a middle-aged mouse with a drinking problem, any legal contest that I'd have to pursue any reasonable distance is probably going to end with me being boned.

In any case, if you're interested in the matter, I really would advise you find someone smarter and better informed than I. Like I said, I limited my information about it.

5614129 "Trademark" is actually a terrible hill for IP lawyers to die on in regards to fanfiction, which is why none of them have bothered. Trademark is considerably weaker in the letter of the law than copyright or patents or the other components of intellectual property law. The only way that companies can defend trademark is a full-bore Russian grand offensive with entire battalions of Big Law thrown at the offender, which is why companies either ignore 'offenders' or go to World War III. The only threat worth the investment are other entertainment conglomerates, and considerably more than nine times out of ten, they carefully file off the serial numbers and maintain a cold war attitude, cheating right up to the edge of the law, but erecting Berlin Walls along that edge and shooting dead anyone on their own side who approaches the border. Because the fight is almost never worth the cost.

Nobody is ever going to sue fanfiction authors unless they get associated with a real entertainment conglomerate, and their own employers will be the ones to slap around the new hire, not the actual owners of the trademarks infringed.

I use people's OCs without really asking, but usually in a positive light. I have even built a universe around a few people's OCs.

I use Burst's OC 'Leo' regularly, and built some backstory into him.

I use Scoots2's OC 'The Professor' regularly and plugged some backstory into her. I even gave her a name since she doesn't seem to have one, or at the least we have not been made privy to it. It's very amusing. In my fics, 'The Professor' has Cheese Sandwich and Pinkie Pie as butler and maid, respectively, as a hilarious reference to the stories Scoots2 writes about them.

I also - and this is very important, kiddies - make sure to credit these people with their OCs. I always include documentation with my fics delineating that the OC in question is the intellectual property of another user or author.

EDIT:

You want to know how people react?

Burst seems tremendously pleased with my footloose-fancy-free use of his OC.

I don't know what Scoots2 thinks about my doing this because she barely posts anymore and seems to be really busy IRL.

OK, confession time. I use other people's OCs, but only off-screen and a reference, the same as I'll name a character "Bitter Ambrosia" and pattern him after Ambrose Bierce. The only time I've asked permission is when I borrowed the general outlines of Chengar Qorath's Freeport and the Hidden Council for a jumping-off point for my prologue, and that because it was a basic setting gank, and even then, I expy'd it by renaming the setting to 'Openwater Bay' and used it for that first chapter. I've used hmm, maybe three or four OC names, and rarely included any of the personality or context which makes those OCs, their creators' OCs. Closest is Crystal Wishes' Fatinah, which in her original conception is a fictional character, a hedonistic free-spirit horse in Saddle Arabia. My Fatinah has been dead for over four hundred years at the time of my story, and is mentioned and described only as the "first Annalist", an apparently grim, determined, and long-lived mercenary horse who took a defeated Company and drove it to revenge against its oppressors; it isn't even Saddle Arabia, I made up 'Dar el Hisan' as a way to avoid defining whether or not Saddle Arabia was on the same world as the rest of Equestria, which in my headcanon, is very much up for debate.

I have two or three other "Annalist" OC usages, none of them as significant as Fatinah. After a while, it was just simpler and easier to use expys of real-world characters. I still haven't gotten around to back-filling on "Strange Voice" (aka Xenophon), but I might one of these days for a filler. Mostly, I used them as colour as a sort of backhanded reference.

I almost never use other peoples' OCs, mainly because there are so very few that fit the sort of stories that I write. If I do use one, they're usually just as a subtle reference, or a brief cameo in homage.

The story I'm working on at the moment is something of an exception to that, with a very well-known OC. I'm not using the character per se, but the other characters in the story reference that OC as a character in an in-universe comic book. Yes, there's a lot of meta involved. And I will definitely include a credit when I finally get around to publishing it (sometime next year, possibly).