Rather than shutting them down, CBS should just invest a bit of money in the project and then take over the rights to sell the DVD/Blu-ray.
Better to wrangle a bit of good will out of it, than pizz-off what could potentially be a large portion of the fan base they want to have pay for the new movie and TV show.
Somebody over there went into "lawyer" mode rather than using their head.
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
I'm still not sure that even matters at this point. Trademark law requires that the IP holder "vigorously defend" the trademark, or risk losing it - hence the folks over at CO being so gunshy about clones there (especially now that Marvel has Disney's infamous legal team behind them). The proliferation of fan projects already out there, including two series with several episodes in the can and one with their pilot already available online, may have undermined that at this point.
In which case, neither CBS nor Paramount would have the ability to claim trademark infringement any more - which could lead to some really terrible TRIBBLE being foisted on us in the future. (You didn't like ST09 or Into Dorkness? Imagine Marshak and Culbreath's Phoenix novels - on film. <shudder>) They might have been better off not to have raised the question here, and just reiterated that as long as Axanar is released for free it's still okay.
As I mentioned upthread, Continues has publicly stated that is is on good terms with the Powers that Be, and are supported and encouraged by them, because they (The Continues producers) have played by the rules set. Renegades, IMHO isn't in anywhere near the same league in terms of production values as Continues, and I doubt The Powers That Be would be bothered by it. Continues, I would hope would be left alone, for the mentioned reasons. I don't think Continues are doing anything wrong, and are simply continuing Roddenberry's vision out of genuine love for the series...
Yeah, more and more I'm inclined to believe the producers of Axanar were looking to monetize it somehow. Hence, the lawsuit.
Yeah, that's certainly a possibility... A recent post by the Continues producers, stated that their intent was to raise enough money to fund another six (or maybe seven, I forget without checking) to complete the season, essentially getting from the end of ToS, to before The Motion Picture, and then, I believe, they then plan on calling it a day. That may also serve in their favor with the Powers That Be, in so much as it's not going to be an ongoing threat... The point mentioned upthread that Axanar may be covering material they plan to do with the new series (and being broadcast for free, over a similar medium which they plan to charge for) may indeed be something to do with their ire... Continues seems to be only about genuine appreciation for the vision of Star Trek, not just getting a load of $$s from the rubes er, I mean fans...
I'm still not sure that even matters at this point. Trademark law requires that the IP holder "vigorously defend" the trademark, or risk losing it - hence the folks over at CO being so gunshy about clones there (especially now that Marvel has Disney's infamous legal team behind them). The proliferation of fan projects already out there, including two series with several episodes in the can and one with their pilot already available online, may have undermined that at this point.
In which case, neither CBS nor Paramount would have the ability to claim trademark infringement any more - which could lead to some really terrible TRIBBLE being foisted on us in the future. (You didn't like ST09 or Into Dorkness? Imagine Marshak and Culbreath's Phoenix novels - on film. <shudder>) They might have been better off not to have raised the question here, and just reiterated that as long as Axanar is released for free it's still okay.
Yeah, if the judge decides that they have been too lackadaisical about how they've been enforcing their TM, this could potentially blow up in their faces.
I'm kinda-sorta hoping the judge turns out to be an old-school Trek fan who is still annoyed about "ENTERPRISE" getting canned.
<chuckle>
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
I'm still not sure that even matters at this point. Trademark law requires that the IP holder "vigorously defend" the trademark, or risk losing it - hence the folks over at CO being so gunshy about clones there (especially now that Marvel has Disney's infamous legal team behind them). The proliferation of fan projects already out there, including two series with several episodes in the can and one with their pilot already available online, may have undermined that at this point.
In which case, neither CBS nor Paramount would have the ability to claim trademark infringement any more - which could lead to some really terrible TRIBBLE being foisted on us in the future. (You didn't like ST09 or Into Dorkness? Imagine Marshak and Culbreath's Phoenix novels - on film. <shudder>) They might have been better off not to have raised the question here, and just reiterated that as long as Axanar is released for free it's still okay.
Why not go after all of the fan projects then? Seems a bit odd to hand slap one and not the others.
That's kind of my point, yes - the fact that they haven't gone after the other fan projects rather weakens their hand here. A judge might well ask exactly the same question you do.
This isn't good as I was looking forward to seeing this. Much more over Jar Jar Spoof Trek. This is a bummer that is for sure. Hope they get it sorted out.
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Really wishing copyright law worked differently. CBS has had nearly 50 years to profit from Trek, IMO that's more than long enough and it should pass into the public domain where people can do some good with it.
something that has been playing on my mind... didn't the prelude come out what almost a yr ago... So if they wanted to they could have and should have gone after them then not almost 12 months later...
If i were a judge ( my opinion, just to be clear coz hey you know ) I would ask that and say so what has changed you knew about it for 12 months why wait...
something doesn't seem quite right about all of this tbh... someone above said about poaching talent... Renegades has..
Walter Koenig Nichelle Nichols Tim Russ
Manu Intiraymi
Gary Graham
Robert Beltran
Terry Farrell
Cirroc Lofton
Aron Eisenberg
Hana Hatae
plus many more........
ALL very high profile Trek actors.... so if they realllly! wanted to use that reason then Renegades would NEVER have or will happen.
I do think Renegades is in the wrong--that's why I have never supported them and why I think they (and Continues and potentially even Of Gods and Men) could be next in the firing line. Their time might come if the lawsuit against Axanar doesn't convince them to back off on their own, and doesn't serve as a warning to those actors that they should not get mixed up in this anymore.
Now, if we were in a situation where the IP was indeed about to come into the public domain (which I would *prefer,* and would work under my idea of taking the longer of the life of the original author or 50 years, seeing as Roddenberry's death means in this case we'd be looking at 50 years), I would have zero heartburn with preparations being made as to what to do when the property comes out of copyright protection. I would view it as no different from official shows based on Sherlock Holmes, the originals of which are no longer under protection and can now be outright profited off of by others with nothing in the way.
But until such happy and reasonable legislation gets passed, then I see CBS doing what they have to do because if Axanar had actually released, then they would likely have no standing EVER again.
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Crowd funding is a sort of legal grey area. It might or might not be non-profit depending on how they spend the money they get from fans. This is what makes me suspect that this is CBS's plan B. The Axanar project got over a million from kickstarter. I don't actually think it's the quality of the film that matters. It might not be "sold" in the traditional sense, but it'd take a lot of accounting records to demonstrate where the 1M went.... Also... if(and I'm not sure Axanar was) you're making enough money to live off it and make the film as a full-time job.... that's far beyond the scope of most fan projects.
But if that was true then it might explain the decision.
Renegades was crowd funded through Kickstarter and raised around ~$300K IIRC. I'm not sold it has to do with the amount of money raised. I'm betting it's someone was looking to turn a profit on it.
Well, We know that the CBS legal team had been discussing things with the Axanar production team for a while before this. It's not a stretch to imagine that they may have done this after private negotiations failed.
I did some digging. I think the beef CBS has with the Galaxanar (see what I did there) is triple.
1) Its becoming so big and popular, that it potentially undermines Star Trek Beyond. The general reaction to the trailer wasn't very enthousiastic to put it mildly, while Axanar has caught the eyes of fans for over 12 months now. They are trying to destroy one hype in order to improve the hype for their own movie.
2) Accountability for money. I always felt Axanar did a good job of showing where the money was going, but they are not overly eager to tell people when one of the features they attempted to bring in the movie falls out. In this case Tony Todd apparently backing out 3, 4 months ago. They did in advance say this could happen, but they were not really eager to tell anyone that this has happened. Just like Garrett Wang who was supposed to show up, but didn't. Todd source:
3) Possible money making. Spoilered just in case the powers that file a lawsuit decide to scan these forums. Yes, I have a nice tinfoil hat.
There is such a thing as an Axanar Donor Store, where they sell T-Shirts and models and posters and such. And where the crowdfunded movie could be defended as covering its own costs, not making more, the store is a lot harder. Although this wasn't mentioned in the lawsuit.
Don't get me wrong, I like Axanar and want it to happen. That being said, this lawsuit might have been inevidable. Right now pointers are indeed going to the defense being based around taking the copyright away from CBS. I'm not sure how to feel about that one myself, since it could also have horrible results.
Again that being said, for CBS to allow such a project for over a year and then filing a lawsuit just after Christmas, and only against one specific professional fan-made project, is kind of a childish targ-move. And that is the only thing in my post I find undeniable. They either should have taken action earlier, against everything or NOT AT ALL. But this just shows bad decision making.
EDIT: Fourth reason.
4. CBS wants to discourage any future fan-made project when their new series starts running. I shared my thought about this series and all of the reboot movies elsewhere, and this is neither the place or time to discuss these productions. But them trying to eliminate all competition right before the next series airs is completely possible.
something that has been playing on my mind... didn't the prelude come out what almost a yr ago... So if they wanted to they could have and should have gone after them then not almost 12 months later...
If i were a judge ( my opinion, just to be clear coz hey you know ) I would ask that and say so what has changed you knew about it for 12 months why wait...
something doesn't seem quite right about all of this tbh... someone above said about poaching talent... Renegades has..
Walter Koenig Nichelle Nichols Tim Russ
Manu Intiraymi
Gary Graham
Robert Beltran
Terry Farrell
Cirroc Lofton
Aron Eisenberg
Hana Hatae
plus many more........
ALL very high profile Trek actors.... so if they realllly! wanted to use that reason then Renegades would NEVER have or will happen.
Also, to the point about Red vs. Blue, I don't think that would be confused for an officially sanctioned Microsoft product (or endorsed licensee).
It would be now. They've got merchandising and run high profile PSA's for Halo on xbox live. The point, you'll note, still stands because if you want to stick to a legalities how good the production values are doesn't matter one bit. It's whether or not the work utilizes copyrighted material. Yes/no, does it infringe?
Both RvB and Axanar do, but the Halo franchise has decided to cultivate its community creations (their blessing is part of the TOU) while Star Trek has in this one case decided not to. It's their call, but there's definitely a drawback in actively antagonizing a big, crowd funded project with an eye on an underserviced part of the fanbase. Unless CBS is planning on catering to them specifically with the next project, killing Axanar doesn't benefit the franchise because it limits the range and interest to only what CBS/Paramount find most economical to release at this moment (which presently is more focused on a different part of the market, both in terms of the genre and release format.)
Want to take it further using your own initiative and resources? You want to get at parts that haven't been and probably won't ever be covered by approved products? You want to help build the franchise and cultivate interest, which later CBS/Paramount productions can profitably exploit? Nope, we at Star Trek want to hold onto iconography while missing the broader point of its significance, because not only did we not understand the ethos behind half the series (intelligent cooperation and mutual understanding) but also the innumerable versions of a "Christmas Carol" which we pointedly did not watch before setting this in motion just after the holidays. You want more Star Trek in this cold winter of derivative action movies? Well how would you like more Star Trek in the unemployment line! :P
Again, (and more seriously, the above was basically just to get to the holiday reference) it's wasted opportunity for cooperation. If you want to look at it from a cost benefit point of view its hard to imagine the income CBS/Paramount would nebulously lose out from a free internet movie that celebrates their IP being worth thwarting even just that part of the fanbase that funded the kickstarter. But it's their decision. They made it, we've got to live with the consequences of this lawsuit. The point I'm trying to present to you to take away from this is that there is a definite downside (whether or not you personally feel it, how other people are evidently responding is what you should pay attention to) from managing the franchise this way. It's probably not going to change anything, but the disappointment at this news is something that exists.
Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
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Although I would agree that it maybe cause it's become big that they want it shut down as it would go against beyond however cbs isn't paramount and don't own anythin to do with new films so to them it wouldn't make a difference.
If it was paramount taking them to court I'd get the reason behind that.
But it's not so for cbs to do this means they must have done something very wrong indeed.
"Paramount and CBS see a violation of their intellectual property."
Funny how in 2005 they didn't seem to care enough about the intellectual property Axanar is based on (Enterprise) to stand behind it and make sure it didn't get cancelled. I realize there is more to keeping a show on the air, such as the ratings and network suits, but still...
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Getting released into the public domain THIS way would be catastrophic and hopefully the judge would be able to think through the potential impact of allowing it to occur in that manner. That impact will make that crazy Marvin Gaye ruling look like chump change in comparison. Can you imagine if they did release it, how crazy Disney would go? Their lobbyists would no doubt be all over Congress to put even more of a chokehold on copyright law, maybe even getting buy-off on a "copyright in perpetuity" concept, the consequences of which would be horrific for any form of creativity. There would be NO chance of sensible copyright reform after the fear struck into every other major corporation after they see the corpse of such a major IP and the result will be far worse than what we have now, which is already bad enough.
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I really think that there was some sort of closed negotiations that failed and lead to this. I said it before but it bears repeating, this is not he first time that CBS has paid attention to Axanar. The first time the lawyers told the Axanar producers in person that the project was only ok as long as they don't turn a profit.
After doing some research on this. . There is a lot going on behind the scenes that until I found what I found we knew nothing about.
All I can say is axanar really does deserve this tbh.
They have taken goodwill to a length it really wasn't intended.
I am not linking anything it's out there to find very very easily and I may be interpreting the information wrong or something but it's very disturbing to say the least.
CBS/Paramount are in no danger of losing Star Trek to the public domain from fanmade productions. That's not how it works. They can lose the trademark (IE the name "Star Trek") if they don't protect it, but there are only three ways for the actual creative works to fall into public domain:
1) The copyright period expires.
2) The rights holders release it to the public domain.
3) The courts rule that the copyright is no longer in effect.
Speaking of Disney, you have them in large part to thank for the current copyright laws. There's a reason the copyright extension legislation is often called "The Mickey Mouse Protection Act."
I really think that there was some sort of closed negotiations that failed and lead to this. I said it before but it bears repeating, this is not he first time that CBS has paid attention to Axanar. The first time the lawyers told the Axanar producers in person that the project was only ok as long as they don't turn a profit.
Possibly but things could have also changed with how Axanar was perceived by CBS/Paramount. If better received than official CBS/Paramount productions (which seems likely, comparing Beyond to Axanar) they could, in a purely figurative sense, lose control of the franchise as fans could easily turn away from the official content for their preferred expression of Star Trek. Basically a superior fan production could undermine CBS/Paramount over the long term, assuming it set a precedent for more of the same level of work.
That's not a very legal point of view, but its one that may explain the new strategy at work here (though the only way they can dig themselves out of this small PR hole is to one-up Axanar with the new TV show. If its another irreverent reinterpretation this might come back to haunt CBS/Paramount badly. Never give fans a rally cry.)
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I did some digging. I think the beef CBS has with the Galaxanar (see what I did there) is triple.
1) Its becoming so big and popular, that it potentially undermines Star Trek Beyond. The general reaction to the trailer wasn't very enthousiastic to put it mildly, while Axanar has caught the eyes of fans for over 12 months now. They are trying to destroy one hype in order to improve the hype for their own movie.
2) Accountability for money. I always felt Axanar did a good job of showing where the money was going, but they are not overly eager to tell people when one of the features they attempted to bring in the movie falls out. In this case Tony Todd apparently backing out 3, 4 months ago. They did in advance say this could happen, but they were not really eager to tell anyone that this has happened. Just like Garrett Wang who was supposed to show up, but didn't. Todd source:
3) Possible money making. Spoilered just in case the powers that file a lawsuit decide to scan these forums. Yes, I have a nice tinfoil hat.
There is such a thing as an Axanar Donor Store, where they sell T-Shirts and models and posters and such. And where the crowdfunded movie could be defended as covering its own costs, not making more, the store is a lot harder. Although this wasn't mentioned in the lawsuit.
Don't get me wrong, I like Axanar and want it to happen. That being said, this lawsuit might have been inevidable. Right now pointers are indeed going to the defense being based around taking the copyright away from CBS. I'm not sure how to feel about that one myself, since it could also have horrible results.
Again that being said, for CBS to allow such a project for over a year and then filing a lawsuit just after Christmas, and only against one specific professional fan-made project, is kind of a childish targ-move. And that is the only thing in my post I find undeniable. They either should have taken action earlier, against everything or NOT AT ALL. But this just shows bad decision making.
EDIT: Fourth reason.
4. CBS wants to discourage any future fan-made project when their new series starts running. I shared my thought about this series and all of the reboot movies elsewhere, and this is neither the place or time to discuss these productions. But them trying to eliminate all competition right before the next series airs is completely possible.
Those tweets from Tony Todd make absolute sense. A while back I posted about a crowdfunded series which appeared to be renaging, or at least dragging its heels over releasing the finished episodes by use of a ludicrous counter where each episode had to have 5000 unique views before the next one would be released. I'm not sure if the entire series has been released now, and to be honest, I really don't care, as I lost interest as soon as they pulled that nonsense. What I did find interesting, is that one of the actresses who appeared in it (and who was the reason why I donated funds) posted on facebook a while back that she thought the 5000 views was a stupid idea, and when we met in person, just after the first episode had been unlocked for public viewing, deapite spending five and a half hours chatting, not once did she ask what I thought of the project or even raise it as a subject of conversation with anyone else who spoke to her. I suspect that she, like Mr Todd, took exception to #artisticdifferences, and stepped back from the project accordingly... Another sci-fi crowdfunded series (which I didn't donate to but was aware of) I have also seen slated on facebook for 'not coming up with the goods', when almost all the updates showed 'business lunches' and some on-set work, but very little in the way of released material. I think that complete transparency is what I find so refreshing about the approach of Star Trek Continues (and the fact that the finished articles are every bit as good as the originals, is just a bonus...) So if there's some question about where the money is going, then the producers of Axanar may indeed be more open to litigation than I first believed, based on the stance of the Star Trek Continues producers who have stated several times that they have full backing...
If this is just a case of CBS getting its panties in a bunch because an independant production can do a better, and better-recieved job with the franchise than they are doing, I can see why it would irritate them, but I doubt a judge would take that as something worthy of litigation...
So if there's some question about where the money is going, then the producers of Axanar may indeed be more open to litigation than I first believed.
But if there's a question about where the money's going why not (vaguely) bring that to the attention of those who backed the project (in the lawsuit press release) to deflect the negative response that trying to kill Axanar is likely to (and apparently has) generated? They may not be able to disclose details but explaining the principle of why it's worth taking an exception to Axanar (and not, say, Of God's and Men) is definitely in CBS/Paramount's PR interests.
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So if there's some question about where the money is going, then the producers of Axanar may indeed be more open to litigation than I first believed.
But if there's a question about where the money's going why not (vaguely) bring that to the attention of those who backed the project (in the lawsuit press release) to deflect the negative response that trying to kill Axanar is likely to (and apparently has) generated? They may not be able to disclose details but explaining the principle of why it's worth taking an exception to Axanar (and not, say, Of God's and Men) is definitely in CBS/Paramount's PR interests.
Maybe the lawyers can't make that the basis of the suit? An informal agreement not to make a profit is far from binding in a court of law. Also, CBS didn't contribute to the kickstarter(at least not officially). Thus CBS would be a third party to any suit involving mis-management of Axanar's funds. So while Axanar might deserve to get sued for misuse of kickstarter funds, CBS isn't the injured party and the injured party(those who funded the project) would need to file the suit.
Thus does not mean that CBS cannot bring that up when the case goes to court, just that it can't be the reason for the suit.
This is the most preposterous thing I've ever heard of. I truly do think that CBS must feel threatened that someone with fewer resources can produce a higher quality product than the studio.
Yes, it is my opinion that what JJ does not live up to the standards that Star Trek had come to be known for over more than 40 years. The level of thoughtfulness, depth, and optimistic outlook on our future as a people have been sacrificed to appeal to "a wider demographic" leaving us with something that is Star Trek in name only.
That being said, I hold out hope that in 2017 we may be presented with something for our viewing pleasure that may actually be worthy of being called Star Trek, preferably a return to the prime timeline whether it be before or after 2360.
In the mean time, I do not believe that CBS really has much of a case here. To me it seems there has been a long standing precedent thus far allowing fan-produced Star Trek. Now, when it's no longer 3 guys with a camcorder in a Cleveland basement, CBS decides to squawk. The way I see it, there are two ways this can go:
1.) CBS wins and all Star Trek fan-film productions become the property of CBS and/or must be eliminated
OR...
2.) CBS loses on the basis of precedent and/or previous lack of action.
...then again...I'm not a lawyer, I just play one on TV.
I think that option 1 isn't as hard as it sounds. They already license books. It's not preposterous for them to allow a live-action novel-verse... as long as they get a cut of any profits. Axanar was claiming 0 profit was made. If that wasn't true then... it's either pay CBS or shut down.
I see many people here are still missing the point. It has nothing to do with greed, or the quality of a production, or any other real motivation.
US trademark law specifies that the holder of an IP must (in the words of the law) "vigorously defend" its trademark; failure to do so might result in that trademark being ruled invalid. That's why aspirin, once a trademark name for acetylsalicylic acid held by Bayer, is now a generic name, while Kleenex has not yet become a legally generic name for facial tissues - Kleenex has defended their trademark, while Bayer ignored abuses for too long.
Someone at CBS and/or Paramount has seen the attention Prelude To Axenar has drawn, and decided that it's time to "vigorously defend" the trademark on the Star Trek IP. That doesn't mean "put out a quality product", or "keep my favorite series running", or anything like that, it merely means taking violators to court. On the other hand, it's up to the judge to decide if they've let other fan projects go on for too long, and relinquished the trademark. If the judge agrees with CBS/Paramount, then the producers of Axenar are in violation, will probably be fined, and can only continue after that if they reach an agreement with the IP holder(s). On the other hand, if they agree with the producers of Axenar, that opens the floodgates for any Trek products at all, including stuff with absolutely no redeeming value whatsoever...
My thought exactly. To date, CBS has taken no action against any other non-CBS produced materials bearing the name Star Trek or any variation thereof (to my knowledge at least). There certainly hasn't been a "vigorous defense" of any kind. This is where I believe there may be a precedent that Axanar falls under.
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Better to wrangle a bit of good will out of it, than pizz-off what could potentially be a large portion of the fan base they want to have pay for the new movie and TV show.
Somebody over there went into "lawyer" mode rather than using their head.
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In which case, neither CBS nor Paramount would have the ability to claim trademark infringement any more - which could lead to some really terrible TRIBBLE being foisted on us in the future. (You didn't like ST09 or Into Dorkness? Imagine Marshak and Culbreath's Phoenix novels - on film. <shudder>) They might have been better off not to have raised the question here, and just reiterated that as long as Axanar is released for free it's still okay.
Yeah, if the judge decides that they have been too lackadaisical about how they've been enforcing their TM, this could potentially blow up in their faces.
I'm kinda-sorta hoping the judge turns out to be an old-school Trek fan who is still annoyed about "ENTERPRISE" getting canned.
<chuckle>
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Really wishing copyright law worked differently. CBS has had nearly 50 years to profit from Trek, IMO that's more than long enough and it should pass into the public domain where people can do some good with it.
If i were a judge ( my opinion, just to be clear coz hey you know ) I would ask that and say so what has changed you knew about it for 12 months why wait...
something doesn't seem quite right about all of this tbh... someone above said about poaching talent... Renegades has..
Walter Koenig Nichelle Nichols
Tim Russ
Manu Intiraymi
Gary Graham
Robert Beltran
Terry Farrell
Cirroc Lofton
Aron Eisenberg
Hana Hatae
plus many more........
ALL very high profile Trek actors.... so if they realllly! wanted to use that reason then Renegades would NEVER have or will happen.
Now, if we were in a situation where the IP was indeed about to come into the public domain (which I would *prefer,* and would work under my idea of taking the longer of the life of the original author or 50 years, seeing as Roddenberry's death means in this case we'd be looking at 50 years), I would have zero heartburn with preparations being made as to what to do when the property comes out of copyright protection. I would view it as no different from official shows based on Sherlock Holmes, the originals of which are no longer under protection and can now be outright profited off of by others with nothing in the way.
But until such happy and reasonable legislation gets passed, then I see CBS doing what they have to do because if Axanar had actually released, then they would likely have no standing EVER again.
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I will personally kneecap every single executive at CBS and Paramount.
P.S. they made a 20 minute mini-film titled "Prelude To Axanar" which is free on YouTube and is extremely good for those who didn't know about it.
1) Its becoming so big and popular, that it potentially undermines Star Trek Beyond. The general reaction to the trailer wasn't very enthousiastic to put it mildly, while Axanar has caught the eyes of fans for over 12 months now. They are trying to destroy one hype in order to improve the hype for their own movie.
2) Accountability for money. I always felt Axanar did a good job of showing where the money was going, but they are not overly eager to tell people when one of the features they attempted to bring in the movie falls out. In this case Tony Todd apparently backing out 3, 4 months ago. They did in advance say this could happen, but they were not really eager to tell anyone that this has happened. Just like Garrett Wang who was supposed to show up, but didn't. Todd source:
3) Possible money making. Spoilered just in case the powers that file a lawsuit decide to scan these forums. Yes, I have a nice tinfoil hat.
Don't get me wrong, I like Axanar and want it to happen. That being said, this lawsuit might have been inevidable. Right now pointers are indeed going to the defense being based around taking the copyright away from CBS. I'm not sure how to feel about that one myself, since it could also have horrible results.
Again that being said, for CBS to allow such a project for over a year and then filing a lawsuit just after Christmas, and only against one specific professional fan-made project, is kind of a childish targ-move. And that is the only thing in my post I find undeniable. They either should have taken action earlier, against everything or NOT AT ALL. But this just shows bad decision making.
EDIT: Fourth reason.
4. CBS wants to discourage any future fan-made project when their new series starts running. I shared my thought about this series and all of the reboot movies elsewhere, and this is neither the place or time to discuss these productions. But them trying to eliminate all competition right before the next series airs is completely possible.
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It would be now. They've got merchandising and run high profile PSA's for Halo on xbox live. The point, you'll note, still stands because if you want to stick to a legalities how good the production values are doesn't matter one bit. It's whether or not the work utilizes copyrighted material. Yes/no, does it infringe?
Both RvB and Axanar do, but the Halo franchise has decided to cultivate its community creations (their blessing is part of the TOU) while Star Trek has in this one case decided not to. It's their call, but there's definitely a drawback in actively antagonizing a big, crowd funded project with an eye on an underserviced part of the fanbase. Unless CBS is planning on catering to them specifically with the next project, killing Axanar doesn't benefit the franchise because it limits the range and interest to only what CBS/Paramount find most economical to release at this moment (which presently is more focused on a different part of the market, both in terms of the genre and release format.)
Want to take it further using your own initiative and resources? You want to get at parts that haven't been and probably won't ever be covered by approved products? You want to help build the franchise and cultivate interest, which later CBS/Paramount productions can profitably exploit? Nope, we at Star Trek want to hold onto iconography while missing the broader point of its significance, because not only did we not understand the ethos behind half the series (intelligent cooperation and mutual understanding) but also the innumerable versions of a "Christmas Carol" which we pointedly did not watch before setting this in motion just after the holidays. You want more Star Trek in this cold winter of derivative action movies? Well how would you like more Star Trek in the unemployment line! :P
Again, (and more seriously, the above was basically just to get to the holiday reference) it's wasted opportunity for cooperation. If you want to look at it from a cost benefit point of view its hard to imagine the income CBS/Paramount would nebulously lose out from a free internet movie that celebrates their IP being worth thwarting even just that part of the fanbase that funded the kickstarter. But it's their decision. They made it, we've got to live with the consequences of this lawsuit. The point I'm trying to present to you to take away from this is that there is a definite downside (whether or not you personally feel it, how other people are evidently responding is what you should pay attention to) from managing the franchise this way. It's probably not going to change anything, but the disappointment at this news is something that exists.
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If it was paramount taking them to court I'd get the reason behind that.
But it's not so for cbs to do this means they must have done something very wrong indeed.
Funny how in 2005 they didn't seem to care enough about the intellectual property Axanar is based on (Enterprise) to stand behind it and make sure it didn't get cancelled. I realize there is more to keeping a show on the air, such as the ratings and network suits, but still...
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All I can say is axanar really does deserve this tbh.
They have taken goodwill to a length it really wasn't intended.
I am not linking anything it's out there to find very very easily and I may be interpreting the information wrong or something but it's very disturbing to say the least.
1) The copyright period expires.
2) The rights holders release it to the public domain.
3) The courts rule that the copyright is no longer in effect.
Speaking of Disney, you have them in large part to thank for the current copyright laws. There's a reason the copyright extension legislation is often called "The Mickey Mouse Protection Act."
Possibly but things could have also changed with how Axanar was perceived by CBS/Paramount. If better received than official CBS/Paramount productions (which seems likely, comparing Beyond to Axanar) they could, in a purely figurative sense, lose control of the franchise as fans could easily turn away from the official content for their preferred expression of Star Trek. Basically a superior fan production could undermine CBS/Paramount over the long term, assuming it set a precedent for more of the same level of work.
That's not a very legal point of view, but its one that may explain the new strategy at work here (though the only way they can dig themselves out of this small PR hole is to one-up Axanar with the new TV show. If its another irreverent reinterpretation this might come back to haunt CBS/Paramount badly. Never give fans a rally cry.)
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Those tweets from Tony Todd make absolute sense. A while back I posted about a crowdfunded series which appeared to be renaging, or at least dragging its heels over releasing the finished episodes by use of a ludicrous counter where each episode had to have 5000 unique views before the next one would be released. I'm not sure if the entire series has been released now, and to be honest, I really don't care, as I lost interest as soon as they pulled that nonsense. What I did find interesting, is that one of the actresses who appeared in it (and who was the reason why I donated funds) posted on facebook a while back that she thought the 5000 views was a stupid idea, and when we met in person, just after the first episode had been unlocked for public viewing, deapite spending five and a half hours chatting, not once did she ask what I thought of the project or even raise it as a subject of conversation with anyone else who spoke to her. I suspect that she, like Mr Todd, took exception to #artisticdifferences, and stepped back from the project accordingly... Another sci-fi crowdfunded series (which I didn't donate to but was aware of) I have also seen slated on facebook for 'not coming up with the goods', when almost all the updates showed 'business lunches' and some on-set work, but very little in the way of released material. I think that complete transparency is what I find so refreshing about the approach of Star Trek Continues (and the fact that the finished articles are every bit as good as the originals, is just a bonus...) So if there's some question about where the money is going, then the producers of Axanar may indeed be more open to litigation than I first believed, based on the stance of the Star Trek Continues producers who have stated several times that they have full backing...
If this is just a case of CBS getting its panties in a bunch because an independant production can do a better, and better-recieved job with the franchise than they are doing, I can see why it would irritate them, but I doubt a judge would take that as something worthy of litigation...
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Thus does not mean that CBS cannot bring that up when the case goes to court, just that it can't be the reason for the suit.
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Yes, it is my opinion that what JJ does not live up to the standards that Star Trek had come to be known for over more than 40 years. The level of thoughtfulness, depth, and optimistic outlook on our future as a people have been sacrificed to appeal to "a wider demographic" leaving us with something that is Star Trek in name only.
That being said, I hold out hope that in 2017 we may be presented with something for our viewing pleasure that may actually be worthy of being called Star Trek, preferably a return to the prime timeline whether it be before or after 2360.
In the mean time, I do not believe that CBS really has much of a case here. To me it seems there has been a long standing precedent thus far allowing fan-produced Star Trek. Now, when it's no longer 3 guys with a camcorder in a Cleveland basement, CBS decides to squawk. The way I see it, there are two ways this can go:
1.) CBS wins and all Star Trek fan-film productions become the property of CBS and/or must be eliminated
OR...
2.) CBS loses on the basis of precedent and/or previous lack of action.
...then again...I'm not a lawyer, I just play one on TV.
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US trademark law specifies that the holder of an IP must (in the words of the law) "vigorously defend" its trademark; failure to do so might result in that trademark being ruled invalid. That's why aspirin, once a trademark name for acetylsalicylic acid held by Bayer, is now a generic name, while Kleenex has not yet become a legally generic name for facial tissues - Kleenex has defended their trademark, while Bayer ignored abuses for too long.
Someone at CBS and/or Paramount has seen the attention Prelude To Axenar has drawn, and decided that it's time to "vigorously defend" the trademark on the Star Trek IP. That doesn't mean "put out a quality product", or "keep my favorite series running", or anything like that, it merely means taking violators to court. On the other hand, it's up to the judge to decide if they've let other fan projects go on for too long, and relinquished the trademark. If the judge agrees with CBS/Paramount, then the producers of Axenar are in violation, will probably be fined, and can only continue after that if they reach an agreement with the IP holder(s). On the other hand, if they agree with the producers of Axenar, that opens the floodgates for any Trek products at all, including stuff with absolutely no redeeming value whatsoever...