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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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If you have not read the court documents; I urge you to do so. There is a lot of clarity in them

This.

I still see Axanar supporters trying to figure out why the lawsuit happened, coming up with bizarre theories, but never looking at the publicly available document where, by law, CBS is required to say exactly why it's suing.

Every page of the complaint can be seen here. You can ignore Janet's comments, though they're helpful, and just read the official document if you want to form your own opinion unaffected by someone else's interpretations and opinions. http://www.gandtshow.com/axanar-plaintiffs-file-amended-complaint/

Beyond that, there's the depositions and the emails filed during discovery that show exactly what the Axanar people were thinking and doing. You cannot read this material and then honestly say, well, everybody's doing that, why was Axanar picked on? Because nobody but Axanar was doing some of the stuff they were doing.
 
They are in business to make a profit.

By entertaining people, i.e. pleasing people. That's how they get butts in seats. As many as they can.

I don't know why you speak of the "fans" as a monolithic block that only has one opinion.

As I have already said, big corporate can micro manage any production with their IP in it. They don't even need one professional actor in it, let alone more than one (although I think some 501c provision allows for two pros while maintaining amateur status?)

You don't know how 501c works. It has nothing to do with how many professional actors are in it or not.

How many theater companies in the country are 501c and hire actors? A lot. A ton. All of the not for profits.

But they said they didn't want to micro-manage these rinky-dink productions. Do you think they lied?

How are a list of guidelines micromanagement?

If your attitude is any use by anyone other than the IP owner of the IP is stealing, no matter how minor, even to the tune of a single penny, then all fan films are illegal, so what are we talking about?

It's not my attitude, it's literally the law. The law doesn't require money to be made, if you make a Star Trek film, fan or not, you are stealing someone else's IP.

Again, not attitude, it's copyright law.

They can certainly decide if any use of their IP will be tolerated at all, but once tolerated, other fair market forces could apply.

The law says they don't have to. The law says they can sue if they choose.

One need remain a non-profit organization, I think, but one can pay their employees, I think.

It sounds like you don't know what a non-profit organization is, as defined by the IRS. It doesn't mean people don't get paid.

Not making money on something, the first former unwritten rule, is not the same thing as a non profit organization.

You honestly wish to limit yourself to discussing only things that have actually happened?

In this thread, on this subject, yeah.

No, I think Peters crossed too many lines and he got his assed sued for one or more of the illegal things he did. What I claim is my belief CBS/Paramount would sue a production even if they raised all its capital legally, if their production values were too high. Can I prove it? No, but it seems suggestive from many things they have said about wanting production values of fan films to be largely different (lower) from their own professional ones. And, of course, they could legally sue, we all agree, even if they did raise the money legally, so that's not the issue.

You keep saying legally raised money.

1. What is an example of illegally raised money?
2. It doesn't matter if money is raised or not, it's still a breach of copyright.

Unfamiliar as I am to some of this, does Kickstarter require the use of another's IP? Could not, for example, a well known talent (director, actor, whatever) inspire donations to help make a studio, and then produce fan films there? Regardless, even use of another's IP, if tolerate, is de facto legal. So I'm not against fan films. I am against trying to do illegal things to make them, sure.

Fanfilms, by their very nature are breaches of copyright law.

True, and they can be sued for making them, if they make a profit, break even, or even lose a ton of money. Why we keep revisiting this point escapes me, however, unless I should repeat how "legal" can be defined as "tolerate" by the IP owner, or raised via other means than the unsanctioned use of another's IP.

We keep revisiting it because you are ignorant, it seems, about copyright law. You keep saying things about legally raised money, that you don't want anything illegal.

Money has nothing to do about copyright violations. Money isn't considered when determining with copyright has been violated.

Pick a lane. Either you don't like illegal things or you do. Or you recognize the hypocrisy of your position and you just want to go back to the way they were. Hint: they won't.
 
At the risk of sounding hostile, the repeated use of the word "Draconic" and its variations is pretty provocative. There is nothing draconic about about them.
Yes, you're welcome to your opinion that the guidelines are "draconic."
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
There's a fanfilms, Horizon, I believe. A feature length movie made for far far less than a million dollars and it has a high production value.

Let me ask a question: why does a fanfilm need a high production value?
If the point of the guidelines isn't to lower production quality, what does it matter?
Again, how is being able to raise 10s of THOUSANDS of dollars draconian? To make something that isn't yours?
With the fifteen minute limit, it's mostly a moot point, because at that runtime, the amount of money allowed by the guidelines on a per minute basis is roughly equivalent to the cost of Anna Akana's short film "Miss Earth". A film the length of Star Trek Horizon, at $50,000 dollars for every 15 minutes, would cost roughly $341,000. I think that's in line with something like Star Trek Continues. $50,000 for 30 minutes is a little less reasonable, though.
 
The first STC episode and most others were done for about or a little over $50K for the entire episode.
 
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

If the point of the guidelines isn't to lower production quality, what does it matter?

With the fifteen minute limit, it's mostly a moot point, because at that runtime, the amount of money allowed by the guidelines on a per minute basis is roughly equivalent to the cost of Anna Akana's short film "Miss Earth". A film the length of Star Trek Horizon, at $50,000 dollars for every 15 minutes, would cost roughly $341,000. I think that's in line with something like Star Trek Continues. $50,000 for 30 minutes is a little less reasonable, though.

A time limit to play with someone else's toys: the nerve!!
 
I am absolutely sure that Alec Peters really did want to make Axanar. Others disagree. So be it. My feeling is that once the money started rolling in and the rave reviews started coming in for Prelude his ego got out of control

That happens to a lot of folks. You get a taste of succes--start to spend in profligate ways--and it all gets out of hand.

However, I am not attempting to "pick apart" responses. I am having a conversion, albeit and relatively slow and somewhat protracted one, usually with like-mined individuals who are ostensibly here to share their thoughts on this particular topic. I mean to have fun talking about Trek with other Trek fans, and nothing more.

There's nothing I enjoy more than good conversation.
 
I can only assume without the lawsuit, it would have helped, and as others were pulled together, somehow, to make Prelude, so, too, might another team be pulled together to make Axanar, particularly when none of them would feel some lawsuit was currently muddying the waters and they were free to do so.

If others are saying Peters had no intention of producing Axanar and everything was designed to rip off fans, I would need to see more proof before I believed that, but I almost get the impression some people actually believe that.
The majority of professional behind the scenes people involved in producing and bringing out Prelude bailed (due to Alec Peters mismanagement of the project and suddenly not wanting to really spend money on the project beyond refurbishing a studio - which all the professionals stated was a waste of money/time). That all happened a full year before the lawsuit (and AFTER Alec Peters had already PASSED the initial filming start dates outlined in the Kickstarter.)
 
And they are tots cool with that. They aren't in business to give away their toys. But they are generous that they don't mind off you want to play, as long as you play nicely.
It's not generosity when they don't actually give you permission and simply hint that they won't break your fingers while you're playing with them if you do as they say.
 
/pours really big drinks/

/slices large pieces of pie/

Pie?
shutterstock_171980276.jpg
 
/pours really big drinks/

/slices large pieces of pie/
Any meat pies there? Carnivore here, and I'm a bit peckish. ;)
----
Is there any other fandom that has this sense of entitlement that Trek fans seem to have? Where else is there a group, that could be described as a cult, that demands that the owners of a property give it over to them to do with as they please? Where else outside extreme Trek fanaticism would it be even a question that the owners of a property be accused of not respecting the fans unless they allow a self-proclaimed savior to collect money and spend it on whatever he likes, with no accountability?

That's what has happened with His Lord Alex, Keeper of All Trek, Father of the Next Millennium of Trek Fandom. (or so he'd have us believe.)

Alec Peters, Lord Axahat, has a pattern of screwing over people who do business with him. It's documented; just look it up. I'm amazed that people still try to put this whole thing on CBS and Paramount.

Can you see me rolling my eyes? :rolleyes:
 
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