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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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Axanar lawyers are going to argue they are not doing anything different that any other fan production. They just have more money. It will put all fan productions in jeopardy as they have crossed an invisible line for CBS/Paramount.

Other Fan films, haven't used funds raised under the guise of "Non Profit fan film" marketed using CBS/Paramount IP, to create infrastructure for a For profit entertainment studio....

Axanar is going to lose, and I do admit, other fan films may take friendly fire....
 
And...Alec Peters, god bless him, has lost it. Just posted on the Axanar Facebook page:

CBS SUES AXANAR!

Well, it appears CBS knows that Axanar is exactly what fans want, because they are trying to shut us down! While Team Axanar will have a response shortly, know this DOES NOT deter us from what we are doing! Delivering to fans exactly what you want.

Goliath, meet David (and his thousands of screaming fans)!
‪#‎IstandwithAxanar‬
Oh boy. Megalomaniacal much? :wtf:
 
This is sad news. I would advice that people who want to keep watching their favorite fan productions download them while you still can. After this they may not be available for online streaming for much longer.

I am sure everyone is eager to find out what has happened and why now? CBS could have acted long before now if they had wanted to.

To those asking about getting your money back I sympathize. I am not sure if anyone would be entitled to a refund. Kickstarter campaigns always advertize the risks and challenges. Not every production is guaranteed success. I always thought that there might be a risk this might happen but I took a gamble by contributing to their kickstarter campaigns.
 
Axanar lawyers are going to argue they are not doing anything different that any other fan production. They just have more money. It will put all fan productions in jeopardy as they have crossed an invisible line for CBS/Paramount.

Other Fan films, haven't used funds raised under the guise of "Non Profit fan film" marketed using CBS/Paramount IP, to create infrastructure for a For profit entertainment studio....

Axanar is going to lose, and I do admit, other fan films may take friendly fire....

Lawyer fees will quickly bankrupt and shutdown this production which may be the whole point after all.
 
Good luck SuperSpaceMan

It was only $15.00.... but anyway... ? Tom.... some people on FB are saying Melinda is saying Renegades got some sort of C&D from CBS/Paramount as well... any truth to that you can confirm or deny?

Not that I know of, our core team was just talking about the Axanar lawsuit an hour ago. Was there post by her on FB or something? I don't see anything.

I am not friends with her.. this was more second hand info to me... I wonder if they are taking her previous posts (with the announcement of Trek '17)....
 
Axanar lawyers are going to argue they are not doing anything different that any other fan production. They just have more money. It will put all fan productions in jeopardy as they have crossed an invisible line for CBS/Paramount.

Other Fan films, haven't used funds raised under the guise of "Non Profit fan film" marketed using CBS/Paramount IP, to create infrastructure for a For profit entertainment studio....

Axanar is going to lose, and I do admit, other fan films may take friendly fire....

Exactly. They took this way too far, and overstepped the line of fan film. They are now akin to another studio making a star trek pilot without permission - something they've alluded to themselves as their view of the project. If Axanar were to continue, why couldn't a rival film company make a trek series too? After all, they'd just have bigger budgets and pay their cast and crew...
 
And...Alec Peters, god bless him, has lost it. Just posted on the Axanar Facebook page:

CBS SUES AXANAR!

Well, it appears CBS knows that Axanar is exactly what fans want, because they are trying to shut us down! While Team Axanar will have a response shortly, know this DOES NOT deter us from what we are doing! Delivering to fans exactly what you want.

Goliath, meet David (and his thousands of screaming fans)!
‪#‎IstandwithAxanar‬

The Internet gives me a headache sometimes.

I assume all those hashtaggers would have zero issues with someone else making money off of things they created. :lol:
 
Hey all, Alec from Axanar here. We just saw this and are dealing with our attorneys and team now. I can say this, Axanar is no different from Star Trek: Renegades or Star Trek Continues, we have just raised more money and are paying our cast and crew. This is a threat to EVERY Star Trek fan project. I can also tell you that we plan to fully defend this lawsuit. In the mean time, find out the latest info on our Fan Group.

That's a pretty big damned difference. "We're no different than the other guys, except we employ people to produce something using CBS's intellectual property and they profit from it.

And...Alec Peters, god bless him, has lost it. Just posted on the Axanar Facebook page:

CBS SUES AXANAR!

Well, it appears CBS knows that Axanar is exactly what fans want, because they are trying to shut us down! While Team Axanar will have a response shortly, know this DOES NOT deter us from what we are doing! Delivering to fans exactly what you want.

Goliath, meet David (and his thousands of screaming fans)!
‪#‎IstandwithAxanar‬
#ThelawstandswithCBS

I don't think the courts care about what's trending anyway.
 
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Are the "professionals" in these Fan productions paid? Does anyone make money off these ventures? If Axanar is used to help other profitable ventures I can see grounds to sue. If not what legal ground would CBS have to sue? Or are they afraid of competition siphoning viewers from their 2017 effort.
 
Axanar lawyers are going to argue they are not doing anything different that any other fan production. They just have more money. It will put all fan productions in jeopardy as they have crossed an invisible line for CBS/Paramount.

Other Fan films, haven't used funds raised under the guise of "Non Profit fan film" marketed using CBS/Paramount IP, to create infrastructure for a For profit entertainment studio....

Axanar is going to lose, and I do admit, other fan films may take friendly fire....

Exactly. They took this way too far, and overstepped the line of fan film. They are now akin to another studio making a star trek pilot without permission - something they've alluded to themselves as their view of the project. If Axanar were to continue, why couldn't a rival film company make a trek series too? After all, they'd just have bigger budgets and pay their cast and crew...

Very true. However, it should give other fan productions pause for launching any Kickstarter until this is all sorted out.
 
And...Alec Peters, god bless him, has lost it. Just posted on the Axanar Facebook page:

CBS SUES AXANAR!

Well, it appears CBS knows that Axanar is exactly what fans want, because they are trying to shut us down! While Team Axanar will have a response shortly, know this DOES NOT deter us from what we are doing! Delivering to fans exactly what you want.

Goliath, meet David (and his thousands of screaming fans)!
‪#‎IstandwithAxanar‬
Oh boy. Megalomaniacal much? :wtf:

The Facebook comments on that status update are painfully unaware. :lol:

The only thing that surprises me is that it took this long. I hope other fan videos don't get caught up in the wake of this.
 
Axanar lawyers are going to argue they are not doing anything different that any other fan production. They just have more money. It will put all fan productions in jeopardy as they have crossed an invisible line for CBS/Paramount.

Other Fan films, haven't used funds raised under the guise of "Non Profit fan film" marketed using CBS/Paramount IP, to create infrastructure for a For profit entertainment studio....

Axanar is going to lose, and I do admit, other fan films may take friendly fire....

Lawyer fees will quickly bankrupt and shutdown this production which may be the whole point after all.
Yeup. They don't need to "win" they just need to curb stomp them with legal fees, and it'll still send a clear message to other productions.
 
Are the "professionals" in these Fan productions paid? Does anyone make money off these ventures? If Axanar is used to help other profitable ventures I can see grounds to sue. If not what legal ground would CBS have to sue? Or are they afraid of competition siphoning viewers from their 2017 effort.

I
 
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Are the "professionals" in these Fan productions paid? Does anyone make money off these ventures? If Axanar is used to help other profitable ventures I can see grounds to sue. If not what legal ground would CBS have to sue? Or are they afraid of competition siphoning viewers from their 2017 effort.

It if a common misconception that copyright violations must make money to be violations. Plenty of fan websites that didn't make a penny were shut down back when those were a thing, because they used copyrighted material like characters, fonts, logos etc. Any creative effort plagiarising the effort of others without permission can violate their copyright regardless of profit.
 
I wanted to see Axanar, but I fully expect them to get seriously crunched. My real question is what's going to happen with the other films. My guess is that STC is likely to be the bellwether due to their level of fundraising and public profile.
 
Are the "professionals" in these Fan productions paid? Does anyone make money off these ventures? If Axanar is used to help other profitable ventures I can see grounds to sue. If not what legal ground would CBS have to sue? Or are they afraid of competition siphoning viewers from their 2017 effort.

Yes.... and Yes, in a round about way....

In 2014, when the first Kickstarter for the Axanar Feature was launched, they were looking to raise some 800K for the full film. Of the 800K listed as a budget in that first Kickstarter, they raised some 650K....

In 2015, when they launched the Indigogo, they started asking for some 1.4 Million, to complete the feature. When people asked why they needed 2 Million (combined total) to make this film, they said, that the 650K raised in the first kickstarter went to go into the infastructure that is "Ares Studios" where they would make Axanar. The problem, is that although Axanar is a not-for-profit venture, Ares Studios is a for profit venture.....

So whether they intended to or not, TPTB at Axanar used funds which used CBS IP in the raising of.... this is a serious dark grey area....
 
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