CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

[Woulfe]

Short Version Of Events, (AKA) TL/DR

1. Con Man asked for money using "Star Trek" to get it

2. Fans gave money to con man in the hopes of seeing some new Star Trek

3. Con Man released something to show he's not pulling the wool over fan's eyes, asks for even more money

4. Fan's throw more money at con man, who uses a portion of said money to start his own for-profit studio

6. Para / CBS get wind of this for-profit studio decide to look into this entire venture

7. Con Man says what he is doing isn't any different then what X, Y, Z is doing

8. Para / CBS pretty much says "We don't think so" talk to our lawyers

9. Con Man goes off the deep end posting online to make himself seem like he's the victim in this whole mess

10. That brings us to NOW...

There, I hope I didn't make it too complicated =P

Lesson here is - A fool & his money are soon parted...

The guy took fans for a ride promising the moon & the stars, failed to deliver the goods, in fact kept asking for more money, used the fans good-will to start his own studio, the people who own Star Trek, caught him red-handed trying to pull a fast one, and let's hope he doesn't put a huge wedge between the fans & the owners of Star Trek once the dust settles down from this.

No matter how you spin this someone is gonna get burned, and the sad part the someone seems to be heck bent on taking the fandom down with them no matter what the cost.

I really hate to pick a side on this whole matter, but I have to go w/ CBS / Para on this one really & just prey that the only one who goes down in flames is the con man who started this whole mess in the first place.

 

[Mark 2000]

Bah!

There's 23 pages, but here's what I took away from reading it (and I've not included cents in dollar totals):

Is the money outside the kickstarters/indiegogos included? You know, direct donations, coffee sales (you heard me correctly), etc? Also, is the bit about salaries true?

 

[JoeZhang]

I am beginning to think that the line was Peters' 38k salary... Notice the annual report was released on the 20th....

Is there anyway the general public can read this annual report?

They haven't made it public, and there doesn't even seem to be a way to copy... I could screen shot it, but Alec is very litigious...

I wouldn't worry - I suspect that report will be available via the courts shortly...

 

[KennyB]

I know the word fan is based on the word fanatic, but sweet Jesus some of the comments on the Axanar Fan page are just insane and some almost scary.

 

[Woulfe]

I know the word fan is based on the word fanatic, but sweet Jesus some of the comments on the Axanar Fan page are just insane and some almost scary.

I'm scared to go look at it even after reading some of the posts by the con man himself online...

The internet is pretty much in full-tilt meltdown mode right now, it's not looking good for Axanar at all...

 

[Amaris]

I know the word fan is based on the word fanatic, but sweet Jesus some of the comments on the Axanar Fan page are just insane and some almost scary.

I'm scared to go look at it even after reading some of the posts by the con man himself online...

The internet is pretty much in full-tilt meltdown mode right now, it's not looking good for Axanar at all...

There are fans who insist if they boycott the new movie, then CBS will realize the error of their ways. I mentioned that if every single member of the Axanar fan page (68,000 people) boycotted the film, it wouldn't equal a drop in the bucket (68000 x $10= $680,000), as the latest Star Trek film made $467,000,000 globally, and it took Axanar over a year to pull together $1,500,000.

This didn't go over well.

 

[Tommunist]

Bah!

There's 23 pages, but here's what I took away from reading it (and I've not included cents in dollar totals):

Is the money outside the kickstarters/indiegogos included? You know, direct donations, coffee sales (you heard me correctly), etc? Also, is the bit about salaries true?

Salaries
1099 $17,420.00
Alec Peters $38,166.57
Diana Kingsbury
Deferred till
2016
Robert Burnett $5,000.00
Curtis Laseter $9,800.00
Salaries $48,042.31
$118,428.88

I don't see Axanar Coffee income! Looks like the Prelude Kickstarter (and $22,000 in "beckerkit" donations) and the first Axanar Kickstarter only. The Prelude breakdown is very detailed, including $198 for "Dinner With Tony Todd" as one of the expenses. Wonder what he had...

To be on the safe side, my writings here are "fan based productions" based on the Axanar Annual Report, and I make no money off of it. This is an independent post that hopefully honors the proud tradition that the Axanar Annual Report has created...

 

[KennyB]

I was really active on here 10 years ago or so........and the craziness kinda ran me away. I was shocked and surprised over the last month with TFA coming out and the new trailer I had decided to look in again and for the most part the BBS seems way more level headed now. I was really expecting a mob when I clicked on this thread. Happy to see people actually discussing it and seeing where the fault is.........not just bashing CBS/Paramount like they are doing on Facebook.

Cheers and Kudos BBS!

 

[calamity_si]

I know the word fan is based on the word fanatic, but sweet Jesus some of the comments on the Axanar Fan page are just insane and some almost scary.

I was probably one of them earlier today. Then I came here and read all the schnizbot that was really going on.

I am ashamed.

 

[jamestyler]

I know the word fan is based on the word fanatic, but sweet Jesus some of the comments on the Axanar Fan page are just insane and some almost scary.

Some are a little borderline, but this one made my morning...

"Out of office reply: Thank you for your correspondence. Email replies are limited due to being dead."

 

[KennyB]

They really need to get out of mom's basement once in a while..........

 

[Shaka Zulu]

I know the word fan is based on the word fanatic, but sweet Jesus some of the comments on the Axanar Fan page are just insane and some almost scary.

I know the word fan is based on the word fanatic, but sweet Jesus some of the comments on the Axanar Fan page are just insane and some almost scary.

I'm scared to go look at it even after reading some of the posts by the con man himself online...

The internet is pretty much in full-tilt meltdown mode right now, it's not looking good for Axanar at all...

I was there, and yes indeed it was scary. These fans have gone off of the deep end completely, and any attempt at reasoning will get your head eaten off.

I know the word fan is based on the word fanatic, but sweet Jesus some of the comments on the Axanar Fan page are just insane and some almost scary.

I'm scared to go look at it even after reading some of the posts by the con man himself online...

The internet is pretty much in full-tilt meltdown mode right now, it's not looking good for Axanar at all...

There are fans who insist if they boycott the new movie, then CBS will realize the error of their ways. I mentioned that if every single member of the Axanar fan page (68,000 people) boycotted the film, it wouldn't equal a drop in the bucket (68000 x $10= $680,000), as the latest Star Trek film made $467,000,000 globally, and it took Axanar over a year to pull together $1,500,000.

This didn't go over well.

I said the same thing, and I included a picture of how CBS Studios would react:



I also included the hashtag about standing with CBS in another post.

They really need to get out of mom's basement once in a while..........

And how.

 

[Amaris]

I know what you mean. When I posted that, someone said something to the effect of "there are billions of us! We will be heard and CBS will listen!" and I just backed away slowly, because anyone who believes that has completely swallowed the blue pill.

 

[captainkirk]

From the legal document:

"The Axanar Works are intended to be professional quality productions that, by Defendants' own admission, unabashedly take Paramount's and CBS's intellectual property and aim to 'look and feel like a true Star Trek movie.'"

The Axanar team really shot themselves in the head with all of those statements.

 

[Maurice]

I wonder if this means CBS/Paramount is going to go after the pro Trek writers from the novels who were going to pen some Axanar stories as part of the perks announced last fall?

You can't prosecute anyone for work not done. If they haven't been paid or delivered anything, they're probably safe.

Axanar compares themselves to David, and CBS/Paramount to Goliath. The only difference is that David had the God of Abraham on his side, while CBS/Paramount has intellectual property, copyright, and trademark law. Axanar's about to find out real quick which God is more powerful.

The funny thing about David and Goliath, is that everyone seems to have the story backwards. (This is a pretty cool talk.)

Honestly, in this instance I'm relishing in saying "I told you so". I've been predicting this for ages. I've dealt with enough entertainment legal types and contracts and I.P. violations to know Alexanar was not only poking the bear, he was poking it in the CBS eye, with a sharpened stick, while calling it names, and taking money from rubes to watch him do all this.

 

[JoeZhang]

You can prosecute anyone for work not done. If they haven't been paid or delivered anything, they're probably safe.

I would think that US law like UK law has the concept of mitigation of loss? as long as the writers haven't actually done anything yet and don't - there is no infringement so nothing to go after them for.

 

[Maurice]

You can prosecute anyone for work not done. If they haven't been paid or delivered anything, they're probably safe.

I would think that US law like UK law has the concept of mitigation of loss? as long as the writers haven't actually done anything yet and don't - there is no infringement so nothing to go after them for.

That "can" was supposed to be "can't". I fixed it.

 

[JoeZhang]

You can prosecute anyone for work not done. If they haven't been paid or delivered anything, they're probably safe.

I would think that US law like UK law has the concept of mitigation of loss? as long as the writers haven't actually done anything yet and don't - there is no infringement so nothing to go after them for.

That "can" was supposed to be "can't". I fixed it.

I actually got that and was agreeing with you.

 

[Turbo]

the glee I see here about Peters' legal troubles leaves me with a sour taste.

The insane reaction of Peters & Burnett is what shifted the tone of all of this. At least for me. They're talking smack about the best thing going for Prelude (Tony Todd). They're trying to lump themselves in with other fan films. "See, they're doing it too." They're pointing to their other Trek work and basically laughing in the face of CBS, while saying they "take it seriously" out of the other side of their mouths. They're increasingly burning bridges, relationships and their chances in court with each passing tweet. I enjoyed Prelude very much. I was looking forward to their next work, whenever it was to come. I take no glee in the fact that it's not going to happen, nor in the fact that people are going to lose money over it. I just find their reaction so over-the-top absurd...it's both laughable and sad simultaneously.

I have to agree. I have a couple friends who've done work for Axanar, and was hoping that this was just a wake-up call for the production and that something could possibly get worked out between CBS/Paramount and Axanar. Then Peters and Burnett started whining, screaming, and trying to trash everyone else.

Folks, if you're gonna try and make something based on someone else's IP, you cannot have an ego the size of Jupiter with respect to the studio. You have to play nicely, or they *will* shut you down.

I know the word fan is based on the word fanatic, but sweet Jesus some of the comments on the Axanar Fan page are just insane and some almost scary.

I'm scared to go look at it even after reading some of the posts by the con man himself online...

The internet is pretty much in full-tilt meltdown mode right now, it's not looking good for Axanar at all...

There are fans who insist if they boycott the new movie, then CBS will realize the error of their ways. I mentioned that if every single member of the Axanar fan page (68,000 people) boycotted the film, it wouldn't equal a drop in the bucket (68000 x $10= $680,000), as the latest Star Trek film made $467,000,000 globally, and it took Axanar over a year to pull together $1,500,000.

This didn't go over well.

I love you.

 

[Ridcully]

Wow this got very American all the sudden....
Oh well....