CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

[muCephi]

The donors where shown a photo of a bound "completed" script August 16, 2015:

Today was another day recovering, but I made time to go get my printed out copy of the script bound at Kinkos (yeah I still call it that) and then started highlighting Garth's lines. 5 months out from principle photography is the right time to start learning lines!
Alec
This lead donors to believe there was a script ready to shoot, actors had been signed and sets would be completed. This is why they call transparency?

Yes.

 

[Noname Given]

I still can't see this getting as far as the courtroom. His lawyers may look at it after discovery and think it's not worth it. Settle for almost anything. CBS/P is going to have to decide if it's financially worth it at that point, too, especially since all that seems to be happening now is Peters' lawyers are swamping CBS/P in details and causing them to run up a huge legal bill. I'm also beginning to wonder if Peters' lawyers still think taking this on pro bono was such a good idea for their firm. If this goes to trial, they'll easily be out six figures for a result that's getting more and more unlikely to have anything favorable in it for them.

C/P are NOT going to settle. If C/P had settlement in mind they wouldn't have filed the lawsuit in the first place. Yes, 99% of civil cases go to arbitration (binding or otherwise); but when a plaintiff with deep pockets decides to set an example of someone using/stealing a multi-billion dollar IP (and continuing to do infringement an act indignant that they were actually sued EVEN AFTER the lawsuit is served and a status conference to discuss discovery and actual trial dates, etc.); C/P aren't going to offer any sort of settlement that Mr. Peters and his self absorbed ego would be inclined to accept.

C/P gain nothing but bad press and set a really bad example by any settlement that isn't 'Return ALL the pledge money...abandon your studio you rented and refurbished by using said pledge money...and NEVER be a part of ANY project even remotely 'Star Trek' related for the rest of your life..." <--- and there's no way Mr. Alec (savior of 'true' Star Trek) Peters will go for that. <--- And that's probably the nicest type of settlement C/P's lawyers would offer.

C/P are in this to provide a concrete/no nonsense example of exactly what will happen if you step over 'the line' in using Star Trek for a fan related project (fan film or otherwise).

 

[Kaltauba47]

I still can't see this getting as far as the courtroom. His lawyers may look at it after discovery and think it's not worth it. Settle for almost anything. CBS/P is going to have to decide if it's financially worth it at that point, too, especially since all that seems to be happening now is Peters' lawyers are swamping CBS/P in details and causing them to run up a huge legal bill. I'm also beginning to wonder if Peters' lawyers still think taking this on pro bono was such a good idea for their firm. If this goes to trial, they'll easily be out six figures for a result that's getting more and more unlikely to have anything favorable in it for them.

If they wanted to settle I don't think they'd asked for a jury trial to begin with. CBS/Paramount has got the money who know defending their IP may even be a tax deception?

 

[BillJ]

So did Todd and Hatch get a piece of the coffee sales since their images were used to advertise it?

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

So did Todd and Hatch get a piece of the coffee sales since their images were used to advertise it?

I bet not

 

[Kaltauba47]

So did Todd and Hatch get a piece of the coffee sales since their images were used to advertise it?

Well Todd left in Sept, don't know exactly when the coffee came out, but if I were him I'd be pissed.

 

[Michael Hinman]

He's not a 'crybaby' per se - it seems to be he makes a portion his living off fanfilms (and I'm sure he was looking forward to getting another paycheck for 'Axanar'.) I'm sure he loves Trek too; but when you're getting PAID for it - IMO it sure seems there's move than just 'for the love of Trek' and Mr. Richter likes to claim (The hounding of the Star Trek: Titan shows that pretty clearly.)

You know, that's the thing ...

I'm not saying that you can't do something that you love and get paid for it. But if you are "doing it out of love," that typically means that you are doing it where satisfying your love is your only compensation.

The news websites have been up and down when it comes to revenue over the last 18 years. There have been times when the sites have made a lot of money ... and I think it would be impossible for me to say I'm doing it out of love. But then there are other times when the sites make no money ... and then, I think you could say that the fact I'm still doing it, is purely out of love.

 

[Maurice]

You know what they call "paid love".

 

[Noname Given]

You know what they call "paid love".

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[Jedi_Master]

You know what they call "paid love".

Marriage?

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

You know what they call "paid love".

A new show on MTV...?

 

[KennyB]

Given the fact he seems to have split from Diana, perhaps it was another sort of carpet he wanted to lay

Sweet baby Jesus just STOP!

 

[Campe]

Guys, seriously! Let's stop discussing Alec's personal life. It has nothing AT ALL to do with the lawsuit.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I still can't see this getting as far as the courtroom. His lawyers may look at it after discovery and think it's not worth it. Settle for almost anything.

I don't see how this settles.CBS/P has no reason to settle for reasons others have elucidated (such as here), and if Peters' law firm did, somehow, manage to work out a settlement where Peters could continue with his studio but not Axanar as a Star Trek film, I don't see why Peters would accept such an offer since that would deprive him of his life's work. Peters' lawyers can't make him accept such a settlement, if offered, even though, to any outside observer, that looks like a fair settlement that Peters could spin as a "win."

CBS/P is going to have to decide if it's financially worth it at that point, too, especially since all that seems to be happening now is Peters' lawyers are swamping CBS/P in details and causing them to run up a huge legal bill.

I have wondered if CBS/P can be awarded their legal fees when they win this case. They're probably well aware that Peters doesn't have the resources to pay the legal bill CBS/P incurred in slapping him down, but it would also set the precedent to the community that there are lines not to be crossed.

Even so, the billable hours are part of the cost of doing business for CBS and Paramount, and whatever they need the accountants will pay. This case won't come to an end because CBS/P cry poverty.

I'm also beginning to wonder if Peters' lawyers still think taking this on pro bono was such a good idea for their firm. If this goes to trial, they'll easily be out six figures for a result that's getting more and more unlikely to have anything favorable in it for them.

They clearly see an issue in copyright law. That, and the opportunity to argue a case like this, may be reason enough to take on such a quixotic quest.

 

[Karzak]

Guys, seriously! Let's stop discussing Alec's personal life. It has nothing AT ALL to do with the lawsuit.

THIS.

More to the point, it just makes us look like the petty "haters" he keeps telling people we are. We don't need to give him that kind of political fuel in the court of public opinion, because it's simply not true. Besides, there's already enough misinformation coming out of the Axanar camp, the last thing I think we all want is for anything Peters says about this site or those of us posting here to be even remotely true.

What part of "let's be better than Alec" is so hard to grasp?

 

[Duane]

All joking aside, I still think the 'split' was a calculated move - either by Alec, to shield her from the inevitable, or by Diana herself, who might've come to her senses about this whole mess. Either way, given Lord Alec's callousness and penchant for dragging everyone down with him (with no remorse), this isn't that surprising.

Where is the "dislike" button?"

 

[jespah]

I don't see how this settles....

Agreed. When you have the time, the money, the skill, and the law on your side, a fast settlement is a poor negotiating move.

I have wondered if CBS/P can be awarded their legal fees when they win this case.

Yes, they can be awarded attorneys' fees.

...

They clearly see an issue in copyright law. That, and the opportunity to argue a case like this, may be reason enough to take on such a quixotic quest.

Possibly. It seems they were/are looking to expand the definition of 'waiver' as a defense, but the corporations are having none of it. It would be overly burdensome if corporate IP holders had to do the following:

• Police every IP infringement they could find, and do it fast, fast, fast! Their Legal Departments would balloon in size, and they would hire people (or have a software solution developed) to scrape the Internet every hour of every day.
• At the same time, they would also have to be more or less continuously pumping out content in order to show an IP was not 'abandoned'. You think the remake situation is bad now, imagine what it would be like then.
• Sarbanes-Oxley requires the responsible management of companies, at its core. If a corporate IP holder had to be more or less constantly adding content in order to hold back a charge of 'abandonment', we would see awful scripts and premises as burned-out writers scraped the bottom of their own intellectual barrels. Ergo, the antithesis of what Sarbanes-Oxley demands.

See, because of the above (and I may be exaggerating but even 1% of that could get burdensome awfully quickly and put a lot of corporations out of business), I don't think any expansion of waiver is going to happen. Even if it wins the day in district court, it would be appealed right quick. You would see other large IP holders filing amicus curiae as such a decision would affect them rather directly.

Think this is bad, imagine an appeal joined by the likes of Marvel, DC, and Disney.

 

[Karzak]

^^ Yeah, if Peters somehow scavenges a win out of this, there's no way the Mouse lets it go past that. All the studios would probably bring the thunder to Alec's doorstep and pulverize him, simply because its in their interests to do so.

In other news: I'm a little less disappointed in Sean Tourangeau today as he at least seems smart enough not to jump into the fray, and perhaps even recognizes what idiots Peters and his other cronies are being.

 

[KennyB]

Agreed. When you have the time, the money, the skill, and the law on your side, a fast settlement is a poor negotiating move.


Yes, they can be awarded attorneys' fees.

Which will NOT be pro bono.............

 

[RedForman]

In other news: I'm a little less disappointed in Sean Tourangeau today as he at least seems smart enough not to jump into the fray, and perhaps even recognizes what idiots Peters and his other cronies are being.

This is the example I wished others would've followed from the beginning (and what I hope others who have stuck it out this long will do before its too late)

Apologies to all for my errant post there.