CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

On his blog, Bjorn Munson posted an incisive and humorous summary of the state of the Axanar case, and its repercussions. It's totally worth a read. Here's one of my favorite parts:

I’m also not holding out hope that Axanar and their defense team will settle. Either because they sincerely believe some faulty legal logic that they can use Star Trek IP, or they’re hoping some long con bears fruit, they see no profit in calling it quits. Their hubris has helped decimate an entire ecosystem of fan productions.​

 

You're conflating two entirely different things. Fan films — original works (though admittedly still infringing) — are a far cry from direct copying that was prevalent on the 90s-era websites to which you refer. Yes, Paramount came down hard on such websites. But it has never treated fan films similarly because they were unlike many of the copying/infringing activities you cite through which people were earning money. Fan films weren't supposed to (until Axanar, of course).

Paramount/CBS didn't "throttle back" anything with regard to fan films. I know that because I was producing them in the early 2000s. And your explanation that this was due to Enterprise's cancellation is a convenient retcon. Star Trek fan films were thriving, untrammeled by studio legal action, before, during and after Enterprise.

And I hate to blow up your dubious legal theory, but the principle of fair use predates Paramount's 90s-era crackdown by a couple centuries in common law until it was incorporated into the Copyright Act of 1976. And while Star Trek has certainly contributed to evolving copyright case law, none of those cases are tied to the 90s-era crackdown. I suspect your own website's experience at that time may have colored your perception of what indeed triggers legal action from the studios against Star Trek fan films.

Also, in what way is it "convenient" that CBS' new series takes place in the same prime universe as Axanar? That universe is the only one to which CBS owns the rights, so what else are they supposed to do?

Also, Axanar does not take place in the "exact same timeframe" as Discovery. The supposed (and non-canonical) Four Years War took place 10 years before the year in which Discovery is set. This "Discovery stole Axanar's idea" narrative is a canard utterly unsupported by anything resembling facts.

I would love to see what facts you can produce to bolster your contention that Paramount/CBS are up to "old tricks" — a dubious proposition since until Axanar they had pursued no such litigation against fan films.

And the idea that Axanar represented "low hanging fruit" is patently absurd. Low hanging fruit doesn't cost the hundreds of thousands of dollars CBS/Paramount are spending in defending their Star Trek copyrights against Axanar's infringement. If Axanar's fruit is hanging low, it's only from the weight of the $1.4 million Alec Peters raised (and spent) without ever producing the promised feature film.

CBS/Paramount's past litigiousness focused on people trying to make money off their intellectual property. Fan films never really posed that kind of threat. Until Axanar. So the studios' lawsuit is in keeping with their long-standing practice of pursuing people trying to make a buck (or a million) off Star Trek.

 

Did someone say, "Cash"?



Neil

 

TOTALLY WORTH THE WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Did someone else say, "Cash"?



Neil

 

@Indysolo, you are a national treasure.

 

Yaaaaaaaaaaay! And now back to the topic on hand!

 

May the Great Bird of the Galaxy bless your planet, Neil.

 

Whew, I was starting to get worried. Now all is right with the cosmos.

 

Great blog post, thanks for linking it.

 

Reading Mr. Munson's blog post was like reading someone who was channeling my own thoughts on this whole thing. A highly quotable blog post in both its clearly researched accuracy of information and its equanimity in presentation.
This is the one (among oh so many others) that I'm offering here:

Indeed.
The complete line is 'Whom gods destroy they first make mad'. How apt and foretelling the title of our Garth of Izar episode feels now.
Life imitating art. Fascinating

 

As someone on Facebook said, this is far and away much better fiction than anything they could've filmed.........

http://fanfilmfactor.com/2017/01/08...t-go-all-the-way-to-the-supreme-court-part-1/

 

Totally getting my ten bucks' worth

 

Every time I read his blog! Just saying...

 

"The Supreme Court has just agreed to hear a case involving a 2014 Star Trek fan film called Axanar…"

It's 2017. Still no film. One paragraph in and he's annoyed me already.

Two paragraphs in and he still sounds like a shopping network. I do want to try and at least get through the Axanar side of the tale, manufactured or not, but he reads like Don West selling trading cards.

Edit: skipped to the end and now Axanar's of national importance? Bloody hell.`

 

This is Donald Trump's America. Where you need to be a success whatever the cost.