Old Existing IP question.

[clockspinning]

I found an old series, last updated a decade ago, on a board elsewhere that specifically states: "I've always wanted James to be the male version of Biker’s hapless blonde character Jenny in that he has a particular backstory, look and personality but can also be used in one-off stories that don't have to jive exactly with everything else ever written about him. You can enjoy the stories by those other authors as Elseworlds tales or parallel dimensions or as an elaborate sequence of dreams: they're all great stories but I'm just not going to use them as canon here."

Given that statement I would interpret blanket permission to use the characters within. If a person were to find a very old story where the original author is not necessarily easy to contact who they could demonstrate had publicly expressed a similar sentiment allow the story, or delete it if you can't get the original author's permission for breaching guidelines?

[SDS]

For my two pence I would just say inspired by or based on XYZ and just state in the intro you havn't been able to contact the author. If the author ever did come forward and had a problem with it (Highly unlikely IMO) you could always adapt the story a little find and replace to change a few names etc.

[clockspinning]

The issue is it seems like doing that requires you to potentially plagiarize thousands of words before actually starting a new story.

[dublinjohn]

The issue is it seems like doing that requires you to potentially plagiarize thousands of words before actually starting a new story.

No, if it was an old story and you had it you could post that bit in the archives and credit the original author (cut and paste), then post your continuation (sequel) and just say its a fan fiction but that you are willing for it to be deleted if the original author ever asserts their copyright.