What pain in the ass? Every episode of, say, STC violates the new guidelines. So you send them a C&D/takedown. Done. (Not that I want CBS to do that -- far from it! Just pointing out it's really easy for them to do so.)
Draconian? Not at all. It's their property, and they've chosen to issue guidelines because of an out of control production that tried to run the table and got caught red handed. Quite frankly, they've been very generous with these guidelines.
There's no blame to be shouldered here, not by the studios at any rate. This isn't draconian - this is the least that a reasonable person might have expected of the studios back in, oh, 2004 or 2005. What's peculiar is not that they're doing this, it's that they didn't do it a decade ago. Everyone I know in fan films has wondered for years at what point something like this would finally happen. Now we know.
Some of the guidelines, particularly #3 and #4, feel like they're meant to provide legal protection to CBS/Paramount; namely, protecting them from lawsuits from licensees. Licenses are held by companies who spend large sums of money to obtain them, and they definitely would not want any unlawful competition. CBS/Paramount, I believe, has a legal obligation to protect their licensees by going after bootleg sellers.
The need for the response was created by the actions of Alec Peters. It is his fault. I don't fault the IP owners for protecting their property and rights from any future Alec Peterses.
I think you got that backwards. The last two Trek films have been infinitely better than most fan productions. (Especially the acting.)
Draconian? You're playing in someone else's house and are upset that you can't crap in the living room. If they wanted, they could have closed down ALL of them, and sued the crap out of everyone... they've got all the cards here. No matter what any fan personally thinks, he's NOT entitled to the ownership of the brand, period. And maybe this had to happen because there's an awful lot of so-called 'fans' who like to forget that.
They aren't obligated but I think anyone in a position of being shut down, if they care about their project, should inquire with CBS/P to see what accommodations they might make to allow things to wind down in the least destructive way. That's pretty much the best any of us can hope, that they won't actively pull the rug out from under things that are already pretty far along.
Now that the guidelines have been set, I'm ready to move forward with a project. I have to check with the originator of it, we put it on hold until this shook out. Overall I'm very happy, instead of an on going series, it will be a 30 minute one shot. So be it, can live with it.
Fan films won't be able to use officially-licensed Star Trek beers as props because that would violate the alcohol prohibition. Kor
Shit. That's a shame. While I'm not into fan films so much they were entertaining at times and kept the flame burning while Trek was away. This seems to be a real kick in the balls to the good ones.
Yes, and I'm fine with that, because it's their property, and they don't want to deal with the headache of a fan production doing something that could come back against them. For example, show a child actor getting drunk in a fan production, and who gets to feel the heat from that? CBS/P, because all people will see is the giant STAR TREK in the title. This makes perfect sense for CBS/P.
Arguably, it would be even worse if somebody ended up on the news because they got smashed on officially licensed Star Trek beer and caused a fatal accident. Kor