CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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No offense to fan-films, but they can't match the drama and excitement of this real live sh*t-show.
Ok just curious
What are the best trek films that STID is among? -Critically which means it got positive review from critics? Just curious
What are the best trek films that STID is among? -Critically which means it got positive review from critics? Just curious
I'd bet real money that the author of that piece is buddies with someone at Axanoise.
Reading the comments, I see that AP just can't stop lecturing his critics. More fuel for the fire, and more entertainment for us.
If we use Rotten Tomatoes, Trek 09 and STID have scores of 95% and 87% respectively. First Contact got a 93%, TWOK 88%, VH 85% and TUC 83%. Keep in mind that RT scores mean only that the percentage cited liked the movie, rather than indicating "how good" it really was.
If we use Metacritic, probably the best site for gauging critical reaction because they weight reviews by actual score (rather than just good or bad like RT), ST09 and STID received scores of 82 and 72. TWOK and FC both received 71, VH and TUC 65 and 63.
Does any of this mean that the new films were better? Of course not; reviews are by their nature subjective. But these comparisons pretty well illustrate that the general critical reaction was on-par with what the diehard Trek audience generally regard as the best Trek films.
Woah, I never said they did not do anything wrong. I said that what they did wrong should be rectified and then continue to make a non-for-profit Trek fan film. I said the only people who should have any say in the crowdfunding question (money used not directly for making the film) is the people who actually donated. I didn't see the offer(s), but I believe it was said the studio would be used for ongoing Trek fan-films (as well as letting others use it). If so, that was part of the what funders signed on for.
As for the perks for the funders, making the DVD/BluRays and GIVING them to the investors is not the same as selling them to them. I believe at one time there were Trek fan-films that made DVDs available for cost or so. What happened to them?
What I think is wrong is designing mugs and shirts and stuff to sell to the public (non investor perks). That would be an un-allowed profit.
Again, I have no relationship to anyone on any fan-film besides being a viewer. I also resent the comment one or two messages above this that implies that anyone who defends in any way Axanar or Peter MUST BE friends with him. There are people with opinions that do not agree with yours (not the quoted here member).
Well...out to shovel the blizzard.....
Also flawed reasoning. If he's doing something shady, it needs to be brought to light. Worse if it's illegal or against Kickstarter policy, or against the intent of the project. This idea that only those affected should be able to speak up about an issue is just flat-out wrong. For one thing, that mentality is what leads to bad people taking advantage of rubes.
They've also said it would be used for other non-Trek films, which would be "for-profit." Whether you are OK with that or not is immaterial. It's against both their own stated intentions, and crosses a line with CBS' policy towards fan-films, and further exacerbates their copyright infringement. Essentially, they're using Trek IP to help fund a new business venture, if this is the case.
By law it is technically commerce, so yes, it is. Money is exchanged for material goods. Calling it a "reward" doesn't change the nature of the transaction in the eyes of the law, as I understand it. This has been covered by others with legal expertise.
For the millionth time, what others have done and gotten away with DOES NOT MATTER. Also, you mention they were "at cost." That means no profit. If Axanar sold a DVD for $20, but it cost 5 to produce, they use $10 to fund the movie, and the other $5 goes into the pool they pulled a salary from, that's definitely profit.
Which they have done, including illegally licensing Trek IP to Hansa Coffee.
Agreed.
Don't misunderstand, I was referring only to the author of the Screen Rant article. I personally don't care whether supporters of AP are friends of his or whatever.
They are entertaining, though. That has a lot of value, in my opinion.
If that were legal then PBS would be handing out Star Wars and Marvel tote bags. No, they know it's still commerce so they give away product with PBS logos and stuff from programs on PBS, with the permission of the programs themselves (Sesame Street, for example).
Fundraising even for a not-for-profit venture doesn't make it OK to use copyrighted material. Luis Vitton famously sued a Darfur charity for selling merchandise that showed a child holding one of their bags. All profits from the sale of t-shirts and posters went to help victims of genocide.
Surprise surprise, they won, and they have lost no face over the long term. Maybe some short term bad PR, but they are no worse 5 years later.
Even if everything surrounding this wasn't so shady, "non-profit" is not a viable excuse you can use to steal other people's copyrighted material.
Any fan film is in violation of copyright, CBS doesn't go after them because they're clearly amateur works of affection where there's next to no money involved.
There's a lot of money involved here, and Alec Peters was bragging his ass off about making a professional Star Trek film, and setting up a studio, and paying people, and how his Trek is "real" Trek and so on. CBS clearly didn't take kindly to that.
However, let's take for a second that Axanar somehow miraculously wins.
That would mean that let's say Netflix can put up a kickstarter for a free streaming Star Wars "fan series" asking 100 million dollars, with professional paid producers, directors, actors, writers, and offering SW T-Shirts, figurines, blureys and shizzle as "rewards" for donations, and it would all be legal according to the Axanar ruling and Mickey couldn't do shit to stop it.
Now let me ask you this, does anything you know or have seen in the real world when it comes to copyright laws make you think that this sort of outcome is even remotely likely?
If CBS wanted to "rectify" Axanar, they would have asked them to make modifications, or more firmly sent a cease and desist. They decided that the thing has gone way too far and flat out sued. They're obviously out to kill it with fire now so nobody has this kind of a stupid idea ever again.
Axanar is dead as the dodo. Alec Peters and the Axanerds are the only people who don't realize this yet.
I don't know... I think Dark Armada is getting there - and I am a big fan of Star Trek: Aurora
Yeah-- any chance of that went right out the window the moment they started blustering in reaction to the suit. I suppose if they'd been apologetic and humble about the whole thing MAYBE the powers-that-be could have been convinced to work with them.
Even then it would be an uphill battle to convince them, but when they responded to the lawsuit by laughing at it, calling them names, belligerently lashing out, and starting hashtag movements, I would think they eliminated any chance at all they of working with CBS, perhaps even finding any kind of "amicable resolution that works for both sides" (as they put it).
What's the difference?
Keep in mind that any defense Axanar's legal team attempts will be reverse engineered: their team knew from day one that what they were doing was infringement, they just thought they would be allowed like other fan-film, maybe hoping that CBS/Paramount would look the other way on some of the lines they crossed.
So even if they can somehow find a way to win in some way, it won't be because they knew they could. It will be a happy accident.
I see where he's coming from. In marketing there is a difference: something given away as a promotional deal with the purchase of something else is often not considered a sellable product in business-- but it is by law. Company's use this tactic all the time to avoid competition on a bran level, but again, it doesn't hold up in court.
So even if they can somehow find a way to win in some way, it won't be because they knew they could. It will be a happy accident.
I see where he's coming from. In marketing there is a difference: something given away as a promotional deal with the purchase of something else is often not considered a sellable product in business-- but it is by law. Company's use this tactic all the time to avoid competition on a bran level, but again, it doesn't hold up in court.
I'd bet real money that the author of that piece is buddies with someone at Axanoise.
Reading the comments, I see that AP just can't stop lecturing his critics. More fuel for the fire, and more entertainment for us.
If I were his lawyer, I'd take a sledgehammer to his computer and smartphone. It's the only way to be sure.
I would think CBS already owns the "Four-Year War" premise in which "Axanar" is set - and which, IIRC, was written for various RPG scnarios published under exclusive license by FASA. Even though FASA is long-defunct, the text of the gaming materials remain wholly owned by Paramount/Viacom/CBS.
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