• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

Status
Not open for further replies.
Also, the undelivered patches from the second Kickstarter campaign remain undelivered because Axanar's software couldn't handle the fulfillment.

I gotta ask a dumb question, because this kills me every time I hear it: what the hell has software got to do with filling the orders? Is the list password protected and unreachable? Was it erased? All you need to fill the orders is names and addresses matched with requested items, the merchandise and stamps and packaging. My mother was a girl scout leader in the early eighties and she and a bunch of little girls managed to take orders and money and deliver the requested cookies to customers all over Long Island...without software.

Obviously I'm missing something important here. Will someone please edumacate my dumb ass?
 
Normally it requires a third holding company, such as Redstone's holding company before the split owned about 80% of Viacom and CBS, Paramount was part of CBS until Redstone split CBS and Paramount into 2 companies.

It makes sense that W&S would be looking to get whatever poison pill mileage they can from digging into corporate takeovers vis Trek ownership. Many here have speculated it would be part of discovery demands against C/P.
 
I gotta ask a dumb question, because this kills me every time I hear it: what the hell has software got to do with filling the orders? Is the list password protected and unreachable? Was it erased? All you need to fill the orders is names and addresses matched with requested items, the merchandise and stamps and packaging. My mother was a girl scout leader in the early eighties and she and a bunch of little girls managed to take orders and money and deliver the requested cookies to customers all over Long Island...without software.

Obviously I'm missing something important here. Will someone please edumacate my dumb ass?

My impression is it is the same reason that the money itself couldn't be directly spent on making Axanar. They wanted to use the project to create long term infrastructure first, without telling donors up front that this would stretch out the schedule and costs.

Ares Digital was supposed to be some industrial strength crowdfunding platform - a long term asset they could use for other things. Even though they didn't pay for it as far as I know, Axanar seemed to want the platform enough to put off the donors for years, instead of making an executive decision separating the two concerns and just sending the perks in a timely fashion.

At least, this is what one might infer from all the Axanar protests that they were waiting on Terry for all this time.

The donors can wait, this project is a business startup achieved with essentially free money and no deliverable dates, a brilliant new:rolleyes: business model.

Also... if the patches haven't been sent out yet, doesn't that imply that one should be patient for the film to come? They must have so much to do... :rofl:
 
Last edited:
It makes sense that W&S would be looking to get whatever poison pill mileage they can from digging into corporate takeovers vis Trek ownership. Many here have speculated it would be part of discovery demands against C/P.
I'm sure they know all the tricks to look for and that should be traceable via the EIN.
For example: Alex needs to purchase 20,000 patches at what? 2 bucks apiece. His invoice is $40,000 and he's asked for his resale number to avoid the $4,000 dollar state tax. Alex obtains or uses a state resale number and avoids the state tax, "if true" his intent was is to resell them. So the "supporter" ponies up the $10 -$20 on the Axanar fund raiser. At that point I would think it could be argued (if that's what happened) is not a donation but a presale. It's a simple matter of requesting the information from the provider of the "Donation Rewards"
Probably depends on how aggressive W&S wishes to get.
 
Fulfilling the perks should have been first on the list of things to do. In the grand scheme of things, the cost of mailing out those patches or whatever should have been figured into the cost of doing business, and wouldn't have taken much away from the actual production. But that didn't happen.

I wouldn't call what did happen "mission creep." The amount of money that came in only served to inflate AP's ego to epic proportions. That he thought he could actually compete with CBS and Paramount with their own property speaks volumes about his character, or lack of it.

Priority being placed on building the for-profit studio, furnishing offices, endless promotional travel, etc. without completing more than 3 minutes of actual footage tells me that the film was not high on the to-do list. Add to that the "donor store" selling product that is obviously the property of CBS and Paramount, and the story almost writes itself.

The consistent posting of Axalytes' declaration of the "quality" of a film that hasn't been shot, or even cast, is confounding to me. How can something that doesn't exist be better than hundreds of hours of film that do exist? Beats me, but the True Believers still proclaim that it is so.

I don't see any way that AP wins this in court. It's obvious that he's attempted to build a business on stolen property, and I hope this case actually makes it to a jury trial.
 
I'm sure they know all the tricks to look for and that should be traceable via the EIN.
For example: Alex needs to purchase 20,000 patches at what? 2 bucks apiece. His invoice is $40,000 and he's asked for his resale number to avoid the $4,000 dollar state tax. Alex obtains or uses a state resale number and avoids the state tax, "if true" his intent was is to resell them. So the "supporter" ponies up the $10 -$20 on the Axanar fund raiser. At that point I would think it could be argued (if that's what happened) is not a donation but a presale. It's a simple matter of requesting the information from the provider of the "Donation Rewards"
Probably depends on how aggressive W&S wishes to get.
Even with a state tax permit, the sales tax has to be paid. The permit holder doesn't pay the tax at the point of purchase, but collects it from the end user, then remits to the state. I don't know how it works for a real live non-profit, but we know that Axanar Productions is not. I know that my state is aggressive about collecting taxes, and I assume that California would be at least as diligent.

Either way, there will be a tax bill to pay. Probably a big one.
 
The consistent posting of Axalytes' declaration of the "quality" of a film that hasn't been shot, or even cast, is confounding to me. How can something that doesn't exist be better than hundreds of hours of film that do exist? Beats me, but the True Believers still proclaim that it is so.

The camel's nose was poking into the tent, and that much was adorned with rubies and diamonds and sapphires as bright as a whole galaxy.
 
Last edited:
Pardon me for interjecting with some raw humor here, but I found this somewhat appropriate. We all know LFIM wouldn't and won't admit when he's wrong, RMB probably won't unless the screws are put to him and Terry has too much pride/bluster/bravado in the way. I'm sure this thought has crossed Diana's or nuDiana's mind though......

(credit to @Swear_Trek)

giphy.gif
 
Up until the lawsuit, how good was Axanar actually going to be? The fabled "fully revised, locked" script director Rob Burnett declared last year was "the best Star Trek script ever," has finally come to light, and Jody Wheeler pens a review of the 105-page screenplay for AxaMonitor, in which he predicts how much people might've liked the film.
 
Up until the lawsuit, how good was Axanar actually going to be? The fabled "fully revised, locked" script director Rob Burnett declared last year was "the best Star Trek script ever," has finally come to light, and Jody Wheeler pens a review of the 105-page screenplay for AxaMonitor, in which he predicts how much people might've liked the film.

This is great news for Axanar! All they have to do is cut out all the superfluous dialog, battles, talking heads, perfect characters, and technobabble. They could fit the rest in two 15 minute episodes easy! Think "Waiting for Boday", with Richard Hatch and Christopher Plummer. Both Standard and the original Klingon versions! Fan films reborn! Broadway Gold!
 
Last edited:
Even with a state tax permit, the sales tax has to be paid. The permit holder doesn't pay the tax at the point of purchase, but collects it from the end user, then remits to the state. I don't know how it works for a real live non-profit, but we know that Axanar Productions is not. I know that my state is aggressive about collecting taxes, and I assume that California would be at least as diligent.

Either way, there will be a tax bill to pay. Probably a big one.
That is correct:
When I buy 200 boxes, (100 each of 2 different sizes.) The first 100 cases are to be used inhouse, the second 100 cases are to become part of a sku and resold with a product. When I place my invoice I am required to show my intent and paid the tax on the inhouse usage and declare the other 100 as purchased for resale witch passes the tax on until it makes it's way to the final purchase or End User..
I've already dealt with the state board of equalization over online purchases in which I considered donations because they were Kickstarters.(With a donate button and everything) I know it was in the days when the states went after all the online sales taxes they could get but if I was determined the "End User" I pay the tax and it's a SALE. Needless to say I've never donated on an online platform since.
(Now I've never heard that the studio gained a 501c status)
If that is the same standard this state uses today, did Alex intend to resell his product or pay the tax and gift it with each donation? It's a simple question, Axanar answered it when they bought the items for their fund raisers. W&S needs to find out what that answer was.
You would be surprised to find out how many people think they can simply give a resale number and escape the state tax, take lumber home and build a new deck with it.
 
This is great news for Axanar! All they have to do is cut out all the superfluous dialog, battles, talking heads, perfect characters, and technobabble. They could fit the rest in two 15 minute episodes easy! Think "Waiting for Boday", with Richard Hatch and Christopher Plummer. Both Standard and the original Klingon versions! Fan films reborn! Broadway Gold!

They wouldn't need sets either. It would be the Our Town of fan-films.
Still need to spend over a half-mil on a studio, though.
 
Up until the lawsuit, how good was Axanar actually going to be? The fabled "fully revised, locked" script director Rob Burnett declared last year was "the best Star Trek script ever," has finally come to light, and Jody Wheeler pens a review of the 105-page screenplay for AxaMonitor, in which he predicts how much people might've liked the film.

Does Kirk still show up to sing Garth praises at the end of this crap?
 
Does Kirk still show up to sing Garth praises at the end of this crap?
Of course Kirk does. At which point Garth replies:

Garth: "Do not refer to me as Captain Garth...I AM LORD GARTH!..."

(Alec peters seems a bit heavy on the foreshadowing IMO. ;) )
 
Up until the lawsuit, how good was Axanar actually going to be? The fabled "fully revised, locked" script director Rob Burnett declared last year was "the best Star Trek script ever," has finally come to light, and Jody Wheeler pens a review of the 105-page screenplay for AxaMonitor, in which he predicts how much people might've liked the film.
"a borg’s smorgas of lines here. "
dccc5d55f82da4aed572f5b3045f4cdf.jpg
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top