CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

[Noname Given]

I also tackled the ole Supplemental Memoranda:
http://www.gandtshow.com/supplemental-memoranda-axanar-compel-disc/

They put the mental in supplemental.

^^^
Yep - That's the truth.

Overall, I think Erin Ranahan is just looking for ANY possible lifeline she can find - and while she has a ton of various arguments and requests - VIRTUALLY none are for things that have real bearing on this type of case - and aside from what you may believe from watching procedural court drama shows; the reality is, Judges follow the law; and when one side or the other goes 'fishing' in a broad way - and steps out of what's really germane to the actual case at hand - a Judge will snap them back hard and tell them,

"No, we're NOT going there because it isn't relevant. We need to GET ON with the case at hand..."

One aspect I've noticed with attorneys in general is they all like to argue; and if a Judge doesn't keep things on track they'll argue over EVERTHING. And again, the weaker one sides case is; the more arguments that side will throw out there in the hopes that something will 'stick' and help their case at Trial or be something they can bring up later should they lose and go on to an Appeal.

But, again, really, this case is pretty cut and dried - and now that C/P have shown a chain of copyright ownership to the point that Ms. Ranahan is withdrawing that aspect of her motion to compel (IE they've shown CBS and Paramount do have full copyright of Star Trek between them to ever her satisfaction) - her ONLY remaining option is to try and show no commercial harm (and with all the unlicensed Star Trek merchandise STILL on the Axanar Donor Store and all the evidence of Alec Peters other commercialization attempts); I doubt she'll have any luck making that argument stick.

Again, it appears W&S have had success in areas of copyright that haven't had a lot of litigation (Gaming figurines, etc.); but copyright related to TV and Motion Pictures has been WELL litigated over the past century - and as neither Alec Peters nor Axanar has gotten ANY type of Licensing Agreement, signed Contract or Waiver with/from CBS or Paramount - the way I see it - in the long run the only thing that they can argue over is the final amount of monetary damages Axanar and Alec Peters will owe to CBS and Paramount for willfully and egregiously infringing their copyrights and attempting to commercialize Star Trek without proper permission for personal gain.

 

[muCephi]

...the way I see it - in the long run the only thing that they can argue over is the final amount of monetary damages Axanar and Alec Peters will owe to CBS and Paramount for willfully and egregiously infringing their copyrights and attempting to commercialize Star Trek without proper permission for personal gain.

It would be a little ironic if the only assets of value Paramount could go after would be items they auctioned off 10 years ago. The facility is not owned, only some improvements that arguably might accrue to the landlord (unless the 'investor group' bought the building I suppose). Maybe they could go after the Axanar donated funds, but how well would that go over? Maybe the Axanar mailing list asset would let them do a refund to the extent possible. And throw in an All Access patch.

If they got statutory damages, how easy would it be to get out from under those through bankruptcy?

If W&S gets shut out of all their discovery arguments, I wonder if they will have the appetite to keep fighting.

 

[JD]

If you thought that Captain's Log was bad, you'll love this entry by LFIM's favorite sock puppet

http://fff.trekbloggers.com/2016/10/12/bombshells-begin-in-discovery-phase-of-axanar-lawsuit-part-1/

I only read all of this first one, but it is interesting to compare this with Axamonitor. Axamonitor comes across very professional, while this at least reads like a personal blog. I think AP has tried to say this one is unbiased, and all I can say to that is

Sure Axamonitor might be very anit-Axanar, but at least Carlos gives clear explanations and justifications with real sources.

 

[muCephi]

Sure Axamonitor might be very anit-Axanar, but at least Carlos gives clear explanations and justifications with real sources.

I think Axamonitor is anti-lies. If Axanar says AM is anti-Axanar, welcome to Freud.

 

[JD]

Very true. I didn't mean anything bad by what I said about Axamonitor, it's great to have a trustworthy source to get the truth about Axanar and AP.
If Alec Peters has so much support, you'd think he could have come up with a better source for Pro-Axanar news than Lane.

 

[dmac]

When this is all over the time will come to heal, so let's not allow the knife to cut to deeply.

 

[Sgt_G]

Yeah, right. After this is over and CBS is done with him, Alec Peters will have to change his name to Alec Peterless.

 

[Smoked Salmon]

When this is all over the time will come to heal, so let's not allow the knife to cut to deeply.

Heal.....with Alec "megastar" Peters? I think his place in fandom will be done if he loses this case. Plus I'm not sure why fandom would need to heal with Captain Egomaniac. Those that sided with him, well that's their bag. I'm sure after the initial disappointment of the loss their interest in it will fade away and they will just go back to being regular fans.

 

[Sgt_G]

Oh, hey! I just broke one-thousand "likes"!!!!!!

 

[dmac]

Heal.....with Alec "megastar" Peters?[/QUOTE
We have to trust this matter to the wisdom of the courts, beyond that there are credible bloggers and pod casters to keep us updated on the current facts.
The path of destruction cut by the Axanar Doomday machine has already happened and I do hope that at some point my enthusiasm to create fan film stories returns. I have to face friends I've known for years that come up with cockamamie ways of demeaning CBS/Paramount over Axanar. All I can do is try and talk them back to Earth.
Before long (and not a day too soon) this will be over and we can go back to arguing how Klingon ended up with ridges while watching the former CEO of that once up and coming thief of intellectual property is doing clean up at the puppy park.

Oh, hey! I just broke one-thousand "likes"!!!!!!

Plus one.

 

[jespah]

Well, I want to be kind to most of the supporters. I think a lot of people were just duped or didn't research as carefully as they should have. Crowdfunding can be almost like an auction when it's in its exciting time period (and AP certainly knows how to capitalize on that).

Oh, and we are probably going to briefly mention the case today, although that will mainly be in the context of my three most recent blog posts. You're all welcome to join us for coffee and bagels (might be a little early for pie) in the chat room, in around an hour and a half or so.
http://www.gandtshow.com/streaming/

Thank you for your kind support.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Alec Peters isn't famous for Axanar, he's famous for the lawsuit and the constant drama he's been manufacturing since. He doesn't care how much he lies, how obviously he's ripping his sheeple off. He just wants all eyes on him. He probably catches up on this thread one-handed.

 

[Karzak]

 

[ThankYouGeneR]

Well, I want to be kind to most of the supporters. I think a lot of people were just duped or didn't research as carefully as they should have.

-> me <- I did not research, the truth is, at all. Which IS my bad and I'm aware of it.

Here's the thing, at least for me..... it didn't occur to me. It was Star Trek, I liked the uniqueness of Prelude. I read the Tumbler FAQ which was amazing -- "I'll be putting in $50K of my own.... All work will be volunteer". Sounded terrific to me.

Told my friend. Friend liked it too. We combined our funds. I didn't need or want perks so I said 'We'll use your credit card, you get the perks.' The end of my involvement except for periodically giving friend more for us to combine and donate again.

Think what you will of me but at that time it just Never occurred to me that staying updated on this production and crowdfunding was something I needed to keep on top of. Live and learn for me but that crowdfunding was helping lots of people in dire circumstances was the only info that was filtering into my awareness back then. I was already donating to ST: Continues. I admired it, enjoyed it, and continued to send them donations. They continued making Continues.

Then comes this Prelude, I really like it, all volunteer, crowdfund, I wanted to contribute. So I did.

When this is all over the time will come to heal, so let's not allow the knife to cut to deeply.

Like Like Like Like Like Like

Personally, one of my lonnnnng time friends, a friend whose intelligence, company, and love of trek has for years been a marvelous source of enjoyment between us. A good and long time friend. And early in this year when this was coming down I was sharing what I was learning about this thing with the others I knew had been donating..... this long time friend I speak of, went verbally ballistic -- at me. I did not respond, let the subject drop entirely, and I actively and respectfully Never revisited it again, but my friend has now polarized and has yet to move back into more than casual acquaintance... after all these years of closeness.

I love my friend. My friend is intelligent, compassionate, insightful, passionate, fun. When this is all over the time will come to heal.

I have an online acquaintance whose intelligence, talent, enthusiasm and dedication I have admired for years. We are interpreting the exact same data in this matter Entirely Differently. Which confuses me, sure, but in my acquaintance's POV I am flat out wrong. Case closed. I like this online acquaintance. Admire this online acquaintance. When this is all over the time will come to heal.

Sometimes, selfishly I know, I think the healing that needs to come will be easier if this doesn't end the way I, through my own researched convictions, think it should. I think I will be able to move past this easier than my friend whom I love and miss and my online acquaintance whom I admire. But it's going to end with emotions that will have to be worked through no matter which way it goes.

That will be what it will be. But my own hand will always be extended no matter the outcome. And hopefully with grace if all this ends like I believe it will, and with calmness if it doesn't.

I literally draw on ST 'parables' if you will allow me in times like these because that's how deep, the level, that Star Trek sparks my ponderings:
The mixed crew of the Voyager. Ensign Ro and her journey with her convictions. Spock and the Romulans. The Klingons joining the Federation. 'The High Ground'. The Maquis/Federation. 'The Hunted.' There are just so many examples to draw on.

I realize some of us on both POV of this litigation will fight to the metaphoric death after this is over with grudges, righteous indignations, and cries of injustice. That will be what it will be. And both of our POVs have had actors in all this who are mirror versions of each other in things said & done, both for ill and good and in good & ill actions taken, so healing may not even be approached by those of us who will not choose to heal. So some of us will continue as if at war no matter how this ends. Some of us will not.

The thing is, emotions are complicated. This is human. This coming together, this healing when this is over, will require effort and gentleness to and from those of us with POV strong and emotional convictions.

But I deeply believe that this healing, this moving forward, is going to be important "When this is all over".

 

[Karzak]

Honestly, it's not so much that people didn't research that bugs me. It's that any call to attention of the fishy bits about the whole thing before the lawsuit were almost always met with vehement shouting down by the Axanar fans, as if it were simply too impossible to consider that they'd been 'had.'

The lawsuit was inevitable given Peters' predilections, mismanagement of funds, and general ambitions, but several of us saw this for what it was years ago, questioned it along the way only to be met with outright hostility and attacks, attempts to discredit us, and general nastiness (often spearheaded by Alec himself) solely because our opinions differed, from critical reviews of Prelude all the way to outright stating "This doesn't add up, Alec. What are you doing?"

Please note - it is not out of bitterness or a lack of magnanimity that I point this out; I do feel as though all the donors are the true victims in this whole debacle architected by Alec Peters, but I also still believe its important to remember that this didn't just come out of nowhere. At least a part of it was in some (most?) cases, an outright refusal to consider that all of this might be one big scam by Peters, despite his continued faltering leadership and refusals for any kind of actual accountability.

 

[dmac]

I took my 5 days of time off this year, went to the mountain top and hammerer out a little Star Trek Fan Film story. I thought it was pretty good, a bit traditional trek for my taste but all and all not too bad.
I come down from the mountain to the realization that a third of the story will have to be cut and anything possibly non family friendly will have to be dropped.
Sort of gives me a big F.U Alec feeling (excuse my suggested colorful metaphor) because there is going to be an abundance of caution not to overstep the guidelines, that your basic self funded fans films are naturally going to toe the line on.
These standards are not imposed on bloggers or pod casters and the truth of the matter is that if fan films lose their relatively thin following compared to the major studios, the bloggers aren't going to have much to blog about.
It will be interesting post lawsuit how various fan films will react to maintaining compliance to the guidelines.

 

[Timby]

When this is all over the time will come to heal

This is a matter of the producers of a Star Trek fan film being unrelenting jackwagons and then becoming petulant toddlers throwing tantrums after being told, "No, you may not, in fact, try to make money off someone else's property."

The time will come to heal? Let's keep some perspective, here. The Baltimore riots of 2015, this ain't.

 

[dmac]

There are plenty of fan films that have operated over the years without the need to raise multi thousands of dollars to create each film.

 

[Ion]

Honestly, it's not so much that people didn't research that bugs me. It's that any call to attention of the fishy bits about the whole thing before the lawsuit were almost always met with vehement shouting down by the Axanar fans, as if it were simply too impossible to consider that they'd been 'had.'

I was raised to be skeptical: before you give money to someone you've never met before, make absolutely certain that they're not out to scam you. I was not active in the Star Trek fan community, and didn't even know that TrekBBS existed. I actually liked Prelude a lot and was looking forward to Axanar, but an evening of research on Alec Peters (before I had even a hint of his reputation) turned me right off to donating. I wasn't willing to say "he's a scam artist," but I wasn't willing to risk it either; there were too many questions.

And so much of it looked like astroturfing on Alec's part.

When I look at the number of people who vehemently and blindly defend him (without so much as a single allowance that they might be wrong), I begin to wonder if I was raised on a different planet.

 

[dmac]

On April 28th 2009 at 4:27 pm EST, Kickstarter went live.
In the following years the little "If you like what we are doing Donate buttons" came down and fund raising campaigns went up.
Does anyone know if it was requested to have those donate buttons removed from fan studio websites? Or did they just go out of style like the horse and buggy?
I for one remember conversations predicting that it wouldn't take long for an Axanar style event to happen.