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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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The_Grand_Nagus
Absolute FACTS:
1) Axanar raised $1,000,000+ by using the Trek IP *without* permission.
2) The Axanar team then paid themselves a salary with some of that money.
3) The Axanar team then used some of that money to build a sound stage that they stated they planned to rent for profit.
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Now, my editorial:

For most fan productions, number 1 isn’t usually an issue as long as as all of the money is being invested in the project, and no PROFIT is being made. Although, admittedly, most fan productions don’t raise anywhere near that much money, and the more money raised the bigger the red flag. That said, numbers 2 and 3 are where the real problem starts, so here goes…

No, it is NOT wrong for a non profit organization to have paid employees. Organizations like the Red Cross are examples of non profits with paid employees.

However(and this is the key point), if you don’t actually work for the Red Cross, you can’t print off their logos, then go down to the mall and raise money, then keep some of that money to pay yourself. You cannot profit yourself using the Red Cross brand without their express permission. Likewise, you cannot profit yourself using the Trek brand without the IP owner’s express permission, which Axanar did not have.

The same logic described above also applies to the sound stage. They cannot use funds raised by using the Trek IP without permission, then use those funds to build something that will make them a profit.

So, the part where they absolutely screwed themselves was where they decided to start profiting. Now, here is their defense: the project was taking all of our time, and we needed money to live on. This is an excellent example of a fake problem. The project was taking all of their time…because they *DECIDED* to spend all of their time on it. No one was forcing them work on it. So they cannot create a fake problem, then use that problem as an excuse to break the rules.

Long story short, epic fail.
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This is one of the most concise summaries of the Axanae situation I've seen so far. Good job!
 
a couple of Privvy Privates are taking a few "yes but if I ignore everything everyone has said, my rhetorical questions haven't been answered yet" sallies. splat.
 
Jay said:
Carlos you have a quote from Dave Gallanter about Axanar and he's a Trek author. Was he asked to be one of these authors?
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I have a list of some but not all of the authors Alec was touting as being involved in various Axanar book projects. I have not had a chance to confirm all of them yet.
 
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Jedi_Master said:
He was never that serious of a threat. I love Star Trek literature, and I had never heard of those "novels" until this mess came along.
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Nevertheless, Fender earned tens of thousands of dollars on his unlicensed Trek works via three Kickstarter campaigns:

• The Romulan War and Four Years War Tech Manual – $18,968
• Star Trek: The Four Years War (four novel-length books) – $11,907
• Star Trek: The Next Generation – Pirates' Cove (novel) – $4,345

That's a total of $35,220 sold via Kickstarter.
 
Michael Hinman said:
Don't you love how you can file for Chapter 7, owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to MGM, get a bunch of fans to pay for storage space and office space for your company, and stay in business?

https://blowoutbuzz.wordpress.com/2...rings-star-trek-relics-to-public-on-saturday/
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I wonder why operating Propworx (a very for-profit business) out of Ares Studios (supposedly going non-profit) has anything to do with Axanar? It must be another one of those "this is what the fans want, they are okay with it" excuses Alec is fond of using.

I don't recall anything in the fundme campaigns for Axanar mentioning housing a business completely unrelated to make a "fan film." And no mention of "Propworx" in the so-called transparent "Official Annual Report." What would the IRS make of that?

Edit: Perhaps MGM would be interested in knowing Propworx is open for business considering Alec owes then a lot of money.
 
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carlosp said:
Nevertheless, Fender earned tens of thousands of dollars on his unlicensed Trek works via three Kickstarter campaigns:

• The Romulan War and Four Years War Tech Manual – $18,968
• Star Trek: The Four Years War (four novel-length books) – $11,907
• Star Trek: The Next Generation – Pirates' Cove (novel) – $4,345

That's a total of $35,220 sold via Kickstarter.
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I didn't dig much into those links I posted up thread, but I assumed that was just money raised to help get each of those projects produced (books printed) rather than actual sales/profits??
 
carlosp said:
One man's expense is another man's profit.
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Indeed. In any event though, I went back through the FB link and found that Jaynz provided some of the schematics and this post he put up on 2/23

A little disclaimer for everyone:

All novels in the online store are produced 'at cost', and no proceeds from the distribution of these items goes to me in any way. The online items simply represent a way to get physical copies of files that are (or will be) available free to anyone who wishes to download them.

Also, the Technical Manual is a compilation of work produced by no less than 7 artists and 4 writers (including myself). I have permission from each to reproduce their work. However, as I've recently discovered, just because it resides on one web source that I have permission to use, it doesn't mean that everything on that site is the property of that one person. I endeavor to get permission/consent from every source I draw from. However, I can't research everything. If you think your artwork may have appeared somewhere without your consent, PLEASE contact me directly so this can be straightened out. This work exists to help promote fans and their contributions to fandom, not just myself or my own work. I want to give credit where credit is due.

All legal niceties aside......your opinion might differ, but to me, going by that post Mr. Fender sounds eminently smarter & more reasonable than Alec - almost the exact opposite. If things hadn't changed from the early 90's when C/P laid the smack down on non-canon/fanon reference works, I'd almost want to say this makes me feel a tad bit nostalgic.
 
Don Hillenbrand does anyone know him etc etc etc wondering if his blogs are to be believed or not (sorry if you are reading this Don just asking)
 
Jay said:
Are they good?
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I started with the first one but didn't get very far. To me, it looked like a series of battles without any interesting overarching story or themes. Also, the characters weren't very diverse and a bit boring. It's free to download, though, so you can check it out yourself.
 
My newest analogy:

It's kind of like speeding. Sure, it is technically against the law to go even 1 mile over the speed limit, but there is an "unwritten rule" among *most*(key word) cops that they aren't going to pull you over unless you are going 10 or more over. So yes, other fan films may technically be speeding a little, but Axanar was going 20 miles over the speed limit. And the cop isn't mean or a bad guy for pulling over the jerk that was going that fast.
 
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