With $1,000,000 per episode for each of their three main cast members, an Episode of BBT costs as much as a Star Trek episode to produce....
CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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With $1,000,000 per episode for each of their three main cast members, an Episode of BBT costs as much as a Star Trek episode to produce....
Not true. The IP right has both the legal AND moral right to determine how their property is used. And according to the law, it is absolute. And if it is the law, how is it morally correct to use their property without their ok?
You also mention compromise. I believe the STAR TREK owners have compromised by letting fan films be made at all. Again they hold the legal rights to the company, and like it or not it is their sandbox.
It sounds as if you have a problem with the law as it stands. I can understand that.
Maybe it's unfair, but it is what it is, And that's what we have to work with.
What I don't hear being talked about is the fiduciary responsability that TPTB have to their stockholders. If they see Axanar as a threat (not just financially, but going ahead after being told publicly not to), they have the legal responsability to go after them.
They have a "donor store"? Is the stuff on there separate from the donor perks?
I guess it could be, though my mere 'speculations' lead me (at this time anyway) to strongly believe this will settle out of court.
I 'speculate' the lawsuit was to establish an opening position for negotiations to begin. I speculate the equitable relief requests are also negotiation points.
I further 'speculate' Ranahan & Jick will get concessions, as will Loeb & Loeb. I have been examining enough (internet found) Copyright cases to make my eyes start crossing and finding enough similarities with this case and each other where Copyright and the courts are moving and bending, with words dilution of IP showing up here and there, with judgments denying as well as granting.
I speculate this case will be a sealed judgment, which will allow Defendants (as well as Plaintiffs if they so choose) to do at least a 'nudge nudge wink wink' inference of victory. I speculate the fan crowdfunded creation of the movie production company, store, and digital streaming service will remain pretty much as it now stands and stay in the hand of current holder.
Though I'm still not yet confident enough to even merely speculate about the continuance of the production as it stands. Nor any mere speculations about blowback for the beloved Trek fan production community at large.
However, as of yesterday my opinions about the players in this litigation are unexpectedly solidifying, with me now having clearer and growing stronger personal preferences for how this turns out.
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Link to a relevant example?
It cost $1M/per episode when TNG was produced. Costs have gone up considerably since the '80's & 90's
Whose feelings? Yours or mine? I'm perfectly happy with how CBS and Paramount are handling the franchise.
Here what I think is happening in the legal offices...
They will allow you to compete with them by making non-Star Trek sci-fi, because they have to.
They will allow you to produce Star Trek that doesn't compete with current productions. TOS-wank doesn't compete with nuTrek, nor does an art school project with student actors. No one is going to confuse that fan-fiction with legitimate Trek.
What they WON'T allow is competing with them while making modern Trek. Tone, style, delivery, quality of production, actual characters played by their actual original actors - all that from Axanar is a direct competition to the movies and new series currently in production.
I wonder if Alec knows HOW to nudge nudge wink wink.
Seriously, I'm speculating they don't settle. CBS has all the cards.
Re Winston and Strawn, they have already reaped a whirlwind of publicity referring to them as top IP attorneys. They don't need to win to profit from the decision to represent Axanar. When I worked at Skadden Arps, the IP cases were often defending losing cases. The worse your case, the better the attorney needed. There are lots of ways to spin BS with no actual legs to stand on. I once had a partner very happy that his argument fooled me into thinking they had a chance. (I was a proofreader and my degree is in art. I have no legal training.)
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Our, us - why don't you stick to speaking for yourself - you don't speak for me as a trek fan (and I don't speak for you).
I know. And I do wish to provide such a link, but truly, honestly, and without hedging on your request I have been through so many now, so so many, that to go back through them again to find the one or a couple that exemplified what brought me to my current speculations would possibly not be as informative on how I arrived at my mere speculations as I would wish. Will you mind terribly if I just leave my post as an opinion piece?
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CBS isn't a charity.
But think of how much exposure and goodwill it would generate! Surely the shareholders can agree that everyone benefits from such an arrangement.
The Star Trek owners are a business and have no obligation to the fans. It IS a business, not a charity. They have a history of turning a blind eye to fan productions, but, if you've been following this thread, this is specifically about Axanar and how they've overstepped the bounderies.
Yes, the fans have kept the franchises alive, but Star Trek is not owned by us. Therefore, we don't set the rules. It's nice that they let many people play in their sandbox, but they truly don't have to.
I think that CBS/Paramount should be thanked for letting fan films go on as long as they have
Ran across this entertaining case involving an unauthorized sequel to Catcher in the Rye. http://nysbar.com/blogs/EASL/entertainment/copyright_and_trademark/
An Aesthetic Decision in the Narrowest Confines: Salinger v. Colting
By Vince Manapat
An Aesthetic Decision in the Narrowest Confines: Salinger v. Colting
By Vince Manapat
You mis understand, Each of the three principles in BBT make 1 Million EACH, PER Episode, so your talking $3,000,000.00, and that doesn't count the other three leads, or the cost to Warner to actually MAKE the show.. (Production staff and whatnot.)
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