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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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Swallow has commented on the mentioning of Axanar:
IIRC, the text for The Latter Fire was locked down in late summer last year, many months before the lawsuit was issued. The text was reviewed and approved by CBS and no issues were raised regarding it.
That reference is there because I enjoyed the 'Prelude' fan film. This isn't the first time I've given name-checks to people who produce fan works; there are nods in Sight Unseen to Trek FM, Literary Treks, TrekMate, Visionary Treks, The G & T Show and so on, in The Poisoned Chalice, and Day of the Vipers has mentions of several Star Trek fan groups, etc. Elsewhere (on social media and the like), I've also mentioned fan productions like Pacific 201, ST Continues, Red Shirt Diaries, Exeter, Phase II, Aurora and others.


To clarify this point: I was approached to write a story for a Four Years War anthology, but as the project was an unlicensed work not approved by CBS or Pocket Books, I declined.

And the last paragraph once again shows Peters/Axanar's problems with staying with the facts as they made it sound as if Swallow was locked in.
 
Anyone seen this? I don't think Terry McIntosh's brain is able to process why Power/Rangers was able to proceed but Axanar is being sued. It must be the Axanar coffee that's affecting his thinking, IMO.

powerrangers_zpsxetbz8qs.jpg
 
Most of us probably haven't seen it because those of us have long since been kicked out of the Axanar Compound for questioning Glorious Leader. :lol:

As for the whole Power Rangers thing, most of the people who are left on the Axanar site still think they're a tiny little fan production that wasn't doin' nothin' <digs toe into dirt>.
 
It's on Terry McIntosh's Facebook page actually. :D


Most of us probably haven't seen it because those of us have long since been kicked out of the Axanar Compound for questioning Glorious Leader. :lol:

As for the whole Power Rangers thing, most of the people who are left on the Axanar site still think they're a tiny little fan production that wasn't doin' nothin' <digs toe into dirt>.
 
It's on Terry McIntosh's Facebook page actually. :D
Ah, in that case, the question is "why would I go there?"

Terry and co. are the ones who tossed us all out of their super special secret awesome totally not a fan film independent film making money making profit making excessive profit Star Trek club because we asked questions.
 
They really should get their stories straight ...

....

FYI ... the response should be public by Tuesday, depending on what part of Monday it's filed, and how fast the clerks are. But I believe U.S. District Court (@jespah you might want to correct me on this) allows for electronic filing, so it should be available Monday.

Wouldn't the Axanar team see that response before it gets filed? Why would they need time to peruse it and dissect it?

Once the response is filed, there should be a motion to dismiss filed by the defense. But expect that to be denied, and the judge to rule on the injunction. Then they'll really have to make some decisions.

I'll check on whether electronic is filing is permitted (after homework today). I suspect the answer is yes but want to be sure before I say anything definitively.
 
Luckily, I've never been friends with either Alec Peters or Terry McIntosh nor am I part of their online fan pages so since they've set their privacy to zero, I can see everything and regularly check on them for laughs. lol

Ah, in that case, the question is "why would I go there?"

Terry and co. are the ones who tossed us all out of their super special secret awesome totally not a fan film independent film making money making profit making excessive profit Star Trek club because we asked questions.
 
Finally, while any possible trial would likely be months or years in the future, an injunction is something CBS/Paramount will seek as soon as possible under the argument that allowing the defendants to proceed with production allows them to continue to financially benefit from the infringing activities that prompted the suit. That being the case, some kind of hearing before a judge is something you'd be likely to see sooner rather than later.

The only chance Axanar has is if the judge doesn't grant the injunction and allows Axanar to restart production as if it was mid-December.

  • Injunction - kills it.
  • Settling - most likely kills it. I doubt CBS would settle if Axanar is allowed to continue.
  • Going to trial - kills it. They'll lose. Even the people at their "studio" realize this now. The only people who don't are the people who have gotten their info solely from Facebook.

Since they're not allowed to talk about the case, and that's all that's happening right now - they're not allowed to talk about anything. Public opinion isn't going to stay with them unless they can constantly rally the troops and the sooner they can do that the better.

Can you imagine what would happen if they stay radio-silent on this until August and then suddenly say "We're back! Donate now to see Star Wolf! Set to be released in 2020!" They'd be laughed off the internet when their Kickstarter fails.

Their best bet is to settle and settle yesterday and reboot their PR machine. The sooner the better for them. When their attorney mentioned settling it was over.
 
Long time lurker, first time poster. Have kept up with all 400+ pages of this and it's made for some quite interesting reading at times. :)

I'd like to throw my two cents in the ring regarding the Doe defendants and who they might possibly be (the biggest unknown still IMO).

From my reading of the initial complaint filed, I've picked up on the following (apologies if any of the below is rehashing old info).........

1) Prelude + Axanar = the 'Axanar Works' (para. 2)
Given how the 'Axanar Works' is used in this context, I would take this to mean the scope is narrowed to those who have/had involvement with Prelude and the main Axanar feature.

2) Jurisdiction/Venue (para. 4)
The statement ".........because all Defendants conduct continuous, systematic, and routine business within this state and this District" seems to imply (to me at least) that if the 'defendants' don't reside in CA, then they have some kind of regular/ongoing (as opposed to one-time/casual) business in CA and/or LA which further narrows the scope.

3) "The Doe Defendants include......" (para. 10)
Here it's kind of obvious as it specifically calls out "persons who aided in the writing of the scripts for the Axanar Works, or producing or directing the films, and those persons who designed or caused to be designed the infringing sets, costumes, props and other elements in the Axanar works that infringe copyrighted elements."

Now what 'other elements' refers to is up in the air, but I would think, given points 1 and 2, that it would be easily recognizable elements of Trek canon.

Paragraphs 24 and 34 reinforce this while paragraphs 29 and 39 shed more light on what are considered to be copyrighted elements (Section III, paras. 40-50 expand on this)

4) Second Cause of Action (paras. 59-61)
This is strict conjecture/speculation on my part, but the statement "defendants knew or had reason to know that the Axanar Works are unauthorized derivative works.........." would seem to point to people reasonably close to/moderately-heavily involved in the production. As a previous poster mentioned, someone on the periphery might just be in it for a small shred of recognition perhaps and wouldn't necessarily have reason to question or raise suspicion about anything (prior to August at least).

The last two paragraphs, 60 and 61, again point to the costumers, set designers etc when it references the "preparation, duplication, distribution and public performance of the infringing Axanar Works" and when it states that they will "continue to contribute to the infringement of the copyrights........" (who else aside from those directly involved with the production would 'continue to contribute to the infringement' ??)

5) Third Cause of Action (para. 64)
The "Defendants enjoy a direct financial benefit....." bit is pretty specific......(i.e. who else besides A.P. is reaping a financial reward/getting paid)

6) Fourth Claim For Relief (para. 67)
"Defendants are in the process of producing the Axanar Motion Picture......."

This is obvious as it references the 'defendants' (rather than just A.P. who is actually named), as those who are actively involved with making the film.

With all of this taken into account, it seems to me that the 'Doe' defendants are those who live in LA/CA and are directly involved, if not day-to-day, then on some kind of regular basis, with the production. As someone mentioned a few pages back, there are a number of names listed in the Axanar Press Kit. Whether or not any of those people are 'Does' is uncertain still, but my own personal take on it is that a good number of them may very well be.

Either way, I don't think CBS/Paramount will 'go nuclear' and name all 20 of them unless it actually gets to trial and/or A.P. comes unhinged and starts 'poking the bear' again (seems like his legal team have done a good job of calming things down......).

Looking forward to future postings:cool:
 
I'll check on whether electronic is filing is permitted (after homework today). I suspect the answer is yes but want to be sure before I say anything definitively.

Okay, it looks like in accordance with Local Civil Rule 5-4.5, there can be electronic filing so long as it is accompanied by at least one 'mandatory chambers copy', which is supposed to be properly formatted with a blue back, etc.
 
Okay, it looks like in accordance with Local Civil Rule 5-4.5, there can be electronic filing so long as it is accompanied by at least one 'mandatory chambers copy', which is supposed to be properly formatted with a blue back, etc.
Does that include the judge's rule about in-person filing? (It was in an early post--don't have time to look for it now.)
 
I would say they look very close to professional TV shows from about ten years ago... but not professional movies. Not even close.

Kor
Yeah. They've nailed Enterprise and BSG - but that's not really ground breaking - or popular.
 
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