If you spend any time in fandom spaces, you’ve probably seen the same statement repeated over and over: “Fanfiction writers don’t own anything. Fanfiction can’t be copyrighted.” For a long time, I heard that claim too—and after dealing with plagiarism issues myself, I decided to look into the legal reality instead of relying on online opinions. What I found was far more complex, and honestly, far more reassuring for fan creators.