file off the serial numbers

From the practice of filing the serial numbers off of firearms in order to make their origin and ownership difficult to trace.

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file off the serial numbers (third-person singular simple present files off the serial numbers, present participle filing off the serial numbers, simple past and past participle filed off the serial numbers)

1. (fandom slang, idiomatic) To remove the copyrighted elements from an existing work of fan fiction so that it may be commercially published as original fiction.
   • 1998 March 6, Julie Lim, “Help!”, in rec.arts.sf.composition‎ (Usenet):

     For a while now, I've been pottering away at a Star Wars fanfic novella ([URL redacted], if you must know). I've received a few pokes about filing off the serial numbers and trying to sell it as an independent work.

   • 2002 January 15, David Thornley, “Re: harry potter”, in rec.games.int-fiction‎ (Usenet):

     I've heard a rumor that Bujold started the Barrayar series as Star Trek fanfic, and there's enough resemblance there to make that seem very plausible to me. Suppose she did. By filing off the serial numbers, she was able to make the universe her own, to change as she needed to.

   • 2012 April 1, Elizabeth Tai, “Quantity over quality?”, in The Star, Malaysia:

     I say “may have” because [E. L.] James has “filed off the serial numbers” of her fanfic.

This term is exclusively used to describe removing proprietary elements from fan fiction based on copyrighted source works (e.g. changing character and planet names in a Star Wars fanfic). The term pull-to-publish can also be applied to the commercial republication of fan fiction based on source works in the public domain, such as The Cthulhu Mythos, Les Misérables, or Sherlock Holmes.

• pull-to-publish