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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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No, no, no, no. The studio's guidelines are "if you follow these, we feel it's not worth taking legal action." What @muCephi said: "Fair use is set down in laws the studio cannot change." The law is pretty clear what is "fair use". Granted, Axanar and its lawyers are trying to re-write black-letter law with by winning this case in court, but I don't see how they can win unless the fill the jury with stupid people (hey, this is America, so that could happen).

The law is clear in how fair use is defined. But whether or not a work IS fair use isn't always clear. One party might believe they pass Fair Use while another doesn't believe so.

Thus: lawsuit and let a jury and a judge decide.
 
EDIT: cross-posted with @dmac ... Yes, I still find it hard to believe he never got one, but the percentage just got lower.
LoL I know, It might be entertaining if Alec was left with the studio and watch him burn through that money creating a whole lot of nothing.

I am really not getting what is being hinted at by the postings about the Chinese investor.
I'm building notes to write a script based of a few facts and a whole lot of conjecture, of course the names will be changed to protect the guilty and it will probably end up to be little more than a personal exercise.
 
So, W&S represent Wanda (is that the name?) and AP. Unless and until Wanda makes a move on Paramount, there's no conflict of interest that I can see. Then again, I'm not "trained as an attorney,"

If Wanda was actively trying to buy Paramount from Viacom, W&S representing AP would be a direct conflict.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.
Wanda made an investment in Paramount’s summer sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows through its subsidiary Movie Media Group and has said it is looking to continue to back other films as part of a strategic step in its global plans. This is a tack also being taken by Wang’s rival Jack Ma and his Alibaba which has made a series of tentpole investments in the past year.
 
Wanda made an investment in Paramount’s summer sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows through its subsidiary Movie Media Group and has said it is looking to continue to back other films as part of a strategic step in its global plans. This is a tack also being taken by Wang’s rival Jack Ma and his Alibaba which has made a series of tentpole investments in the past year.
Like I said, interesting.
 
I'm sure you're correct, I still find it hard to believe Alec never got one.
In your opinion, other than driving Alex to bankruptcy, what does CBS/ Paramount have to gain from a good outcome resulting in the lawsuit?
They will have defended their copyrights and sent a strong signal — now backed by a court ruling — that people acting as "fans" can't hijack the studios' intellectual property for their own commercial ventures. Their hoped-for victory was always less about crushing Axanar in particular and more about preventing similar efforts in the future.
 
No, no, no, no. The studio's guidelines are "if you follow these, we feel it's not worth taking legal action." What @muCephi said: "Fair use is set down in laws the studio cannot change." The law is pretty clear what is "fair use". Granted, Axanar and its lawyers are trying to re-write black-letter law with by winning this case in court, but I don't see how they can win unless the fill the jury with stupid people (hey, this is America, so that could happen).
Actually, fair use is still considered a very nebulous aspect of intellectual property law; virtually all of its interpretation comes from sometimes contradictory court decisions. And when it comes to fan works especially there is no specific guiding precedent. If Axanar goes to court, it would be the first.
 
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Oooooh, good point. For the first time, I might be able to believe Alec Peters' claim that he never received any C&D letter.

EDIT: cross-posted with @dmac ... Yes, I still find it hard to believe he never got one, but the percentage just got lower.
I've never been of the opinion that Peters never got a C&D. We know he had meetings and other communications with CBS that conveyed their concerns, as confirmed by the now-famous statement given to the Wrap just a year ago — four months before the suit, three months before announcing the new series, six months before hiring Bryan Fuller to develop Discovery.

If there had been a C&D that Peters ignored, I think that would've leaked by now if only to discredit him.
 
Actually, fair use is still considered a very nebulous aspect of intellectual property law; virtually all of its interpretation comes from sometimes contradictory court decisions. And when it comes to fan works specifically there is no specific guiding precedent. If Axanar goes to court, it would be the first.

Thanks, I stand corrected. I thought the 4 point fair use doctrine was more solid.
 
Thanks, I stand corrected. I thought the 4 point fair use doctrine was more solid.
The four factors are solid, but the manner in which they are applied is not. Courts examine each fair use claim on a case-by-case basis, weighing those four factors, often against one another. There's no specific formula by which they employ with those four factors.
 
No, no, no, no. The studio's guidelines are "if you follow these, we feel it's not worth taking legal action." What @muCephi said: "Fair use is set down in laws the studio cannot change." The law is pretty clear what is "fair use". Granted, Axanar and its lawyers are trying to re-write black-letter law with by winning this case in court, but I don't see how they can win unless the fill the jury with stupid people (hey, this is America, so that could happen).

No, no, no, no. I think you misunderstood my post (and to some extent, so did @muCephi) - but if that misunderstanding arose from the way I phrased things, then mea culpa.

I wasn't in any way implying that the studio had any power to determine what fair use was or wasn't. I was merely using an analogy that, because they have set their guidelines up in a way that is roughly analogous to some of the analyses that would be made under a fair use defense, their allowing people to make films that comply with the guidelines is functionally equivalent to the studio letting fans know that they would consider fan works that meet the guidelines to be a fair use for which the studio would not seek damages for infringement. Similarly, the way they set up the guidelines, they can point to violations of the guidelines as evidence against a fair use argument – for the reasons outlined in my post.

But I never meant to imply that the studio was itself creating a fair use defense (not only would they have no power to do so, but someone who complied with the guidelines who was sued by the studio would have something much better than a fair use defense – in effect an estoppel (and possibly breach of contract) claim against the studio for going back on its promise to not sue a fan film that met the guidelines.).

And, yes, there are good arguments for a binding enforceable contract there, under any number of theories of contract formation – including the separate theories of an agreement with consideration (studio made an offer and the filmmaker gave consideration by changing its plans to comply with the guidelines) and promissory estoppel (studio made a promise on which the fan film relied to his detriment by changing his plans to comply with the guidelines on the belief that this would avoid a lawsuit.)

M
 
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The four factors are solid, but the manner in which they are applied is not. Courts examine each fair use claim on a case-by-case basis, weighing those four factors, often against one another. There's no specific formula by which they employ with those four factors.

Also, let's not forget that, while the four factors are actually set out in the copyright statute, the copyright statute also makes clear that these four factors are not the exclusive factors to be considered for fair use. Courts are free to consider other factors beyond those four factors – though they rarely do.

M
 
No, no, no, no. I think you misunderstood my post (and to some extent, so did @muCephi) - but if that misunderstanding arose from the way I phrased things, then mea culpa.

I wasn't in any way implying that the studio had any power to determine what fair use was or wasn't. I was merely using an analogy that, because they have set their guidelines up in a way that is roughly analogous to some of the analyses that would be made under a fair use defense, their allowing people to make films that comply with the guidelines is functionally equivalent to the studio letting fans know that they would consider fan works that meant the guidelines to be a fair use for which the studio would not seek damages for infringement. Similarly, the way they set up the guidelines, they can point to violations of the guidelines as evidence against a fair use argument – for the reasons outlined in my post.

But I never meant to imply that the studio was itself creating a fair use defense (not only would they have no power to do so, but someone who complied with the guidelines who was sued by the studio would have something much better than a fair use defense – in effect an estoppel (and possibly breach of contract) claim against the studio for going back on its promise to not sue a fan film that met the guidelines.).

And, yes, there are good arguments for a binding enforceable contract there, under any number of theories of contract formation – including the separate theories of an agreement with consideration (studio made an offer and the filmmaker gave consideration by changing its plans to comply with the guidelines) and promissory estoppel (studio made a promise on which the fan film relied to his detriment by changing his plans to comply with the guidelines on the belief that this would avoid a lawsuit.)

M

It will be interesting to read the precedent W&S wants to propose. Assuming they make it through discovery without an unbearable list of so-sue-me brags in the deposition record.
 
Like I said, interesting.
Fan films should be more like a group of people that get together have a lot of fun and perhaps create some additional content. Like most people I've known involved in fan films, it's a lot of work, paid off with meeting new friends and a sense of accomplishment.
Watching the events over the last few years with some guy running rough shot over all the good folks involved in fan films has been disturbing to say the least. If it was a story I would have a hard time writing him as simply on some super ego trip. My search for a motivation behind our antagonist discovered some unexpected possibilities almost closer to "The Manchurian Producer"
You keep peeling the layers and run into this stuff, here is a link if you wish some additional reading :
"To influence public opinion, the Communist Party now spends about $10 billion annually on “external propaganda” alone."
 
If it was a story I would have a hard time writing him as simply on some super ego trip.

However, people who have worked with him directly strongly DO report this, and the idea that Axanar is somehow an instrument of a government propaganda ploy really needs to be defended by more than "possibilities" and suggestions to draw ones own conclusions, don't you think? Hate to push back, but injecting such a strong conclusion into the discourse without any substance could give Axalites yet another talking point about their persecuted state. Some substance would be welcome. :beer:
 
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However, people who have worked with him directly strongly DO report this, and the idea that Axanar is somehow an instrument of a government propaganda ploy really needs to be defended by more than "possibilities" and suggestions to draw ones own conclusions, don't you think? Hate to push back, but injecting such a strong conclusion into the discourse without any substance could give Axalites yet another talking point about their persecuted state. Some substance would be welcome. :beer:
By all means, push back. This whole Axanar/C-P is nothing but a template. Just while doing some outlining the whole Fan Film lawsuit is sort of out of place.
 
By all means, push back. This whole Axanar/C-P is nothing but a template. Just while doing some outlining the whole Fan Film lawsuit is sort of out of place.

Ok. I read you have a template with something that seems a bit out of place. I am only saying that these sorts of assertions can get turned into temper tantrums by others quite easily. I have no idea personally what may or may not be going on in the picture you're examining. np.
 
Ok. I read you have a template with something that seems a bit out of place. I am only saying that these sorts of assertions can get turned into temper tantrums by others quite easily. I have no idea personally what may or may not be going on in the picture you're examining. np.
O.I.C.
Writing space adventures seems rather easy to me. Every now and then I attempt something a little more in the present time zone. I'm attempting a plausible fiction in the same vain as Wall Street, any similarity to current events will be avoided or unintended. If I don't like it when I'm done, there is a waste paper basket near by.
 
Looks like Lord Alec & his acolytes are really swinging for the fences

http://www.axanarproductions.com/fan-film-friday-join-the-new-fan-film-letter-writing-campaign/


Dr. McCoy was rather quick to come up with a diagnosis too

tumblr_occ9x3UtKw1vaqoiqo1_500.gif
 
Looks like Lord Alec & his acolytes are really swinging for the fences

http://www.axanarproductions.com/fan-film-friday-join-the-new-fan-film-letter-writing-campaign/


Dr. McCoy was rather quick to come up with a diagnosis too

tumblr_occ9x3UtKw1vaqoiqo1_500.gif
More like a Hail Mary, I think.

I notice that they used the Trek anniversary logo on their "focus group" report. Smart move, coming from a guy who is already being sued for stealing IP.

Oh, and McCoy's excremental exclamatory these days is equine in nature. (See my signature. ;) )
 
Yea they say their focus groups are better quality information than the studios could hope to come up with without spending way more money. Meanwhile underneath is the problem that the focus groups are drawn from their small access constituency to start with. Its the same people who wiped out their credibility by starting out saying go to hell CBS in public, and that having failed to gain traction, are now giving the studios the concession of letting them have a 'conversation' about their demands.

Sound familiar? Our efforts are way better than you could ever do, and we are (misleading assertion, e.g. a nonprofit), even though underneath the covers lurks our secret definition which is is contrary to what one expects the term to mean?

They really don't get the dynamics of this. CBS has every reason to argue that changing the guidelines is premature, people have to wait and see if the concerns actually create a problem down the road. And no CBS staffer has any way to internally champion the recommendations of a FB group who advocated boycott of the new series. These are thesis killers, and the whole strategy is pointless at this time.

The only purpose this serves is to keep vocal donors busy believing Axanar isn't wreckage at the hands of its management. Stall long enough and the settlement whatever it is will be ambiguous enough to deflate the surge of outrage required to get lawsuits/govt investigations going.

EDIT: it also gives Axanar cover, look they tried to push back so you can't blame the guidelines on them.

And it would not surprise me in the least if the only fan film makers having input are in Axanar.
 
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