STAR TREK: A TOUCH oF Greatness by John Erik Edge

[JoeZhang]

Hum.. I might write a fanfiction in which Kirk gets really scared, it can be called "A touch of cloth".

[Dimesdan]

JoeZhang wrote:

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Hum.. I might write a fanfiction in which Kirk gets really scared, it can be called "A touch of cloth".

Or that Janeway idea you mentioned recently.

[JoeZhang]

Dimesdan wrote:

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Or that Janeway idea you mentioned recently.

I can see it now:

While on patrol, the Enterprise encountered a Klingon warship who tried to board the ship. The crew was worried, but Kirk was calm.

He turned to his yeoman, "Bring me my red shirt!"

The yeoman quickly got the Captain's red shirt, which the captain put on. Then he led his crew into battle against the Klingons. Although there were some casualties among the crew, the Klingons were defeated.

Later that day, the conn noted that there were two klingon vessels sending two boarding parties towards their ship. The crew was nervous, but the Captain, calm as ever, bellowed, "Bring me my red shirt!" And once again the battle was on!

The Captain and his crew fought off the boarding parties, though this time more casualties occurred.

Weary from the battles, the men sat around in the rec room that night recounting the day's events when an ensign looked at the Captain and asked, "Sir, why did you call for your red shirt before the battle?"

The Captain, giving the ensign a look that only a captain can give, explained, "If I am wounded in battle, the red shirt does not show the blood, so you men will continue to fight unafraid." The men sat in silence. They were amazed at the courage of such a man.

As dawn came the next morning, the conn screamed that there were Klingon ships, 10 of them, all with boarding parties on their way. The men became silent and looked to the Captain, their leader, for his usual command.

The Captain, calm as ever, bellowed, 'Bring me my brown trousers!!!'

(stolen and altered from here)

[Therin of Andor]

Sci wrote:

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If the answer is no, then I'd go after B&N, Amazon, etc., to stop selling ST fanfiction through their eBook services. If fans want to make fan fiction, they should be the ones who have to distribute it, not mainstream booksellers.

Are they going to stop professional printing companies with offset printers, and public libraries with photocopiers, from printing fanzines that fans bring in?

[Brikar99]

JD wrote:

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Yeah, and B&N has their pub-it service which allows user to self publish e-books, and as far as I can tell there's no oversight over what people publish.

The terms of service for publishing on both Pub-It and Amazon KDP include you having to affirm that you have the rights to publish your work. After that, there's supposed to be a review period before the story/book goes on sale. Amazon had my books up in just a few hours. B&N took nearly a week.

All that said, how this story got up there is a bit beyond me.

[Sci]

Therin of Andor wrote:

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Are they going to stop professional printing companies with offset printers, and public libraries with photocopiers, from printing fanzines that fans bring in?

The legal answer is that they could if they got wind of it.

In reality -- no, of course they won't. But a major online realtor selling copies of fanfic online is a much bigger potential threat to their trademarks and a bigger violation of their copyright, so it would be more rational to go after that than what you just described.

[Therin of Andor]

Sci wrote:

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But a major online realtor selling copies of fanfic online is a much bigger potential threat to their trademarks and a bigger violation of their copyright, so it would be more rational to go after that than what you just described.

Exactly. But "selling" is one thing, "free download" is another. I do think that fanfic publishers need to be sensible - and refrain from using the word "Star Trek" on the cover of their eBooks.

[Sci]

Therin of Andor wrote:

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Exactly. But "selling" is one thing, "free download" is another.

From a legal standpoint, I don't think there is.

[Christopher]

Sci wrote:

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In reality -- no, of course they won't. But a major online realtor selling copies of fanfic online is a much bigger potential threat to their trademarks and a bigger violation of their copyright, so it would be more rational to go after that than what you just described.

"Going after" the retailers is the wrong approach. They're not actively causing the problem; they do have rules against selling copyright-infringing material, and they do enforce them when they discover it. At worst, they're just not enforcing them enough. So it would be stupid for the studio to treat B&N or Amazon as the enemy, to attack them and alienate them. What they should do is work with the retailers to improve their enforcement, treat them as partners in resolving their mutual problem.

Sci wrote:

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From a legal standpoint, I don't think there is.

Technically, all fanfiction is illegal copyright infringement whether you profit from it or not. But typically, studios only bother to enforce that law when the material is sold for profit, because it's too much trouble to go after all the fanfiction. And in the case of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry specifically asked Paramount to go easy on the nonprofit fanfiction because it helped build the fanbase. This is how fan-film franchises like Phase II are able to thrive.

[Therin of Andor]

Sci wrote:

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From a legal standpoint, I don't think there is.

From a traditional CBS/Paramount tolerance of fanfic, there would seem to be. Fans used to charge people for printing and postage of fanfic. They weren't supposed to make a profit.

I have had my fiction ST fanzines sold in specialist bookshops, and I've bought fanzines from more mainstream shops. The zines did not use the "Star Trek" name or logo and I didn't make a profit, although the shops often added an amount to my RRP. We also regularly supplied club newsletters to local bookshops.

Christopher wrote:

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Technically, all fanfiction is illegal copyright infringement whether you profit from it or not.

Fully aware of that. And "cease and desist" letters would be sent to fanzine publishers who deliberately made their products look too much like licensed material.

But typically, studios only bother to enforce that law when the material is sold for profit, because it's too much trouble to go after all the fanfiction. And in the case of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry specifically asked Paramount to go easy on the nonprofit fanfiction because it helped build the fanbase. This is how fan-film franchises like Phase II are able to thrive.

Exactly. Each ST movie's official media release package has always included a paragraph attempting to estimate the then-current output of fan-generated, unlicensed materials.

After the first two "Star Wars" movies, George Lucas rampaged over many media fanfic zines which had broadened their activities to include "Star Wars" material to their stable.