Oooh, I like the tangent. Yes! Putting all sorts of transformative work on AO3 - even stuff that is clearly legal within the current system - seems like it could only help OTW's argument that fanfic and derivative work is a valid part of the artistic continuum and conversation.

Also, what I would really love to see happen, connected with that, is for AO3 to host original works, with permission, for some of the things people write fic about - obvs. that's never likely to happen for Star Wars or whatever, but when the canon is a fannishly-written, non-commercially-intended source, I think it would be awesome both for the value of the archive and for the copyright argument. And I can even see authors of forever out-of-print or creative-commons pro SF novels agreeing to have their stuff posted there, too - some of them have it up on websites already - which, again, seems like it could only strengthen the advocacy position - "hey, these pros are okay with having their work right alongside fanfic of it--". ...of course, that begs the question of putting up public domain sources like Madelyn Mack, where the author can't be contacted, and turning AO3 into archive.org.