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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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muCephi said:
Yes, I agree. The aggregate of features of an Andorian is probably unique, but perhaps only if the name Andorian and the backstory of their particular planet is attached. I doubt Trek was initially built with a large copyright compliance effort ;), and there could be substantial barn doors waiting to be found now that prior art is so much easier to research. If I were owner of an IP firm with lots of mad money to spend, and I really wanted to pry trek away from CBS, I might threaten to make good on such research unless I could see space made for fan films. Will watch with bemusement as this analysis is retconned into the Axanar story.
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Wouldn't it really be moot with something as old as Star Trek? You may be able to find a blue alien with antenna in the way back machine. But either the copyright would've lapsed due to time or the fact no one has used or defended it for more than a half century.
 
Squiggy said:
To be fair, the festival was the one who put in the copyright rule. If they don't care one way or another, why make the rule?

They're just ignoring their own rule - which they can do. It's still stupid though.
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Oh, I'm not saying it's not stupid. I just don't find it surprising, or something that we really need to care about in the context of Axanar. :)
 
Maurice said:
If I were entering an original film in a film festival and I lost to a film like Prelude which violated the rules, I'd make the biggest stink ever, because it's unfair to everyone who plays by the rules.
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I don't disagree with you. One can also make the argument that Prelude should never have been submitted for just that reason. I'm not saying it's not a big deal for folks in the film world.

All I'm saying is that, unless you... *cough* have a dog in that fight *cough*... it isn't real relevant here. Trying to get people to pull Prelude's awards is vindictive at best. The only exception is if you were actually competing against it, to which I would say: if you didn't protest its inclusion then, why are you doing so now?

All that changed is the filing of the lawsuit. It doesn't change that everyone knew at the time that it violated CBS IP without permission. Or at least, that's my assumption; I suppose Peters could have snowed a few people, but I never got the impression that he actually had any kind of deal with CBS.

If it was okay at the time, I don't see that it should be any different in light of the lawsuit. JMHO, of course.

Squiggy said:
True.

If I was in an film festival and I lost to any Star Trek movie, I'd be pissed in a very angsty, artsy way.
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T'would depend on what it was for me. If it had enough originality that it would have won regardless of being a Trek film? That would be fine. Not that I'm saying that Prelude had that, or that anyone else has it; not enough of a film critic to know.
 
BillJ said:
Wouldn't it really be moot with something as old as Star Trek? You may be able to find a blue alien with antenna in the way back machine. But either the copyright would've lapsed due to time or the fact no one has used or defended it for more than a half century.
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I don't know much about how it plays out with copyright, but in the patent world if you can show that one or more uniqueness claims of a patent existed as "prior art" before the patent filing (either in an active patent, or having been put into the public domain directly, or by expiry of a prior patent), then you have a shot at invalidating a patent. This is why the CBS claims of "unique features such as pointy ears" in the complaint strikes me as throwaway language. I wouldn't be surprised if some aspects of Trek are lifted wholesale from other works, or are only unique in a few specifics of the story attached to them, i.e., thinly protected.

What is the indispensable minimum that makes a member of the public see something as Trek or not Trek, that is being fought over and not replicable outside of the IP? Why can't a project say they are building a new universe "in the spirit of Trek?", and recognizably achieve it without the IP? I have my own thoughts but I am curious why someone couldn't just move on and do it.
 
It'll be the specific combination of those features that make the material Copyrighted. The idea of a planet Vulcan existed long before Trek, and Eddie Muster had pointed ears but he wasn't from a society that puts logic first from a planet named Vulcan. Just about all fanfilms are too on-point copying specific combinations of elements from Star Trek to make the "prior art" argument work, especially when they baldly called themselves "Star Trek _____".
 
Alec says some kind of paper work has been completed that he's very happy with.
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It's probably not lawsuit related, as they shouldn't can't talk about that. I suspect they signed an actor.

Neil
 
maybe he has finally caught up on this thread :hugegrin:

after listening to that podcast though, him saying things like if CBS doesnt like it that we are using their IP then sorry, but CBS isnt using it, they abandoned it, they are only making something like Guardians, Axanar is the only true Trek... and they won't license to us, but thats wrong, they should license to us because we are doing it with such high quality... if CBS wants toast, they will get it.
 
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