CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

[BillJ]

Perhaps the injunction has been granted.

Doubt it. Their Facebook page was updated 10 minutes saying that they're screening Prelude at some film festival.

Because sure. Why not.

Maybe they've just decided to use stupidity as a defense.

 

[SuperSpaceMan]

Going to just pop in here to state that Peters' and his team's 11th hour ploy to turn Axanar into a "non-profit" will not be of much help to his copyright case issue.

The use of copyrighted works, even for educational or "non-profit" purposes, is not a free pass for taking what does not belong to you.

The law specifically regards art and entertainment as "closer to the core of protected expression than primarily factual works. Because the dissemination of facts or information benefits the public, you have more leeway to copy from factual works than you do from fictional works."

"However, even if you take a small portion of a work, your copying will not be a fair use if the portion taken is the 'heart of the work'".

"Fair use is more difficult to establish if your use deprives the copyright owner of income or takes away from a new or future market for the copyrighted work. This is true even if your work is not directly competing with his own use of his work."

"Could my use of this copyrighted work potentially affect the sales of this work? If so, it's likely not fair use."

www.publiccounsel.org/tools/publications/files/fairuse.pdf

http://nonprofitconversation.blogspot.com/2010/06/beware-of-copyrighted-images-used.html

Thanks, but this has already been discussed at length.

One thing that does interest me. Peters apparently posted on December 11th he was preparing to file for non-profit status. Why at that point? Did he already know litigation was coming?

I can't imagine someone like Peters, who has worked for, and with CBS in the past doesn't have people there with their ear to the ground.

I can't imagine that someone like this team who saw filing for tax exempt status as a waste of time and money, would suddenly change their mind.

 

[Smoked Salmon]

Going to just pop in here to state that Peters' and his team's 11th hour ploy to turn Axanar into a "non-profit" will not be of much help to his copyright case issue.

The use of copyrighted works, even for educational or "non-profit" purposes, is not a free pass for taking what does not belong to you.

The law specifically regards art and entertainment as "closer to the core of protected expression than primarily factual works. Because the dissemination of facts or information benefits the public, you have more leeway to copy from factual works than you do from fictional works."

"However, even if you take a small portion of a work, your copying will not be a fair use if the portion taken is the 'heart of the work'".

"Fair use is more difficult to establish if your use deprives the copyright owner of income or takes away from a new or future market for the copyrighted work. This is true even if your work is not directly competing with his own use of his work."

"Could my use of this copyrighted work potentially affect the sales of this work? If so, it's likely not fair use."

www.publiccounsel.org/tools/publications/files/fairuse.pdf

http://nonprofitconversation.blogspot.com/2010/06/beware-of-copyrighted-images-used.html

Thanks, but this has already been discussed at length.

One thing that does interest me. Peters apparently posted on December 11th he was preparing to file for non-profit status. Why at that point? Did he already know litigation was coming?

Again, I've said this many times. If litigation practice in California is anything like it is in my jurisdiction then Peters would have been warned prior to the commencement of proceedings (and the studio statement of Aug 2015 supports this). I suspect he's known about this for ages.

 

[oswriter]

Thanks, but this has already been discussed at length.

One thing that does interest me. Peters apparently posted on December 11th he was preparing to file for non-profit status. Why at that point? Did he already know litigation was coming?

Again, I've said this many times. If litigation practice in California is anything like it is in my jurisdiction then Peters would have been warned prior to the commencement of proceedings (and the studio statement of Aug 2015 supports this). I suspect he's known about this for ages.

Agreed. The studios certainly had no incentive to wait and "surprise" him with a lawsuit.

 

[Tom]

From Alec's viewpoint things may have seen alright at CBS and he may have talked to his contacts etc. Paramount maybe the main driving source of the lawsuit, and they had to get CBS involved (because they are the main owners of Star Trek). This would explain how Alec was 'seemingly' blindsided by this. It would also explain why other fan films are ok, because they are only pulling from CBS's IP which they have allowed. As soon as Axanar when into Paramount's territory the gloves were off.

 

[SeerSGB]

One thing that does interest me. Peters apparently posted on December 11th he was preparing to file for non-profit status. Why at that point? Did he already know litigation was coming?

Again, I've said this many times. If litigation practice in California is anything like it is in my jurisdiction then Peters would have been warned prior to the commencement of proceedings (and the studio statement of Aug 2015 supports this). I suspect he's known about this for ages.

Agreed. The studios certainly had no incentive to wait and "surprise" him with a lawsuit.

There's no way at all that he didn't see this train heading for them. The real question is who knew what, and when they knew it.

If CBS told him to knock it off in August 2015 (or further back) and they kept going, all they've done is dig the hole deeper. You don't ignore a C&D.

This is why I think they'll no show/response the court.

 

[JD]

I was thinking again about the fact that Peters wanted to use this to launch a studio and a producing career. I know if I worked in the film/TV industry and was approach by Peters and I found out about all of this, the first thing I would do is turn and run in the other direction as fast as possible. I'd also hate to see what he would do if things didn't go exactly his way as he tried to work on his original projects, or if it got bad reviews.

I have to wonder if Tony Todd deciding to leave had anything to do with him getting a job on The Flash as the voice of this season's big bad? I could see not wanting to be involved with a fan film while doing such a high profile role on a network TV show like that.

 

[Squiggy]

I have to wonder if Tony Todd deciding to leave had anything to do with him getting a job on The Flash as the voice of this season's big bad? I could see not wanting to be involved with a fan film while doing such a high profile role on a network TV show like that.

Since the CW is a joint venture between CBS-TV and WB it probably had some bearing on his deicison.

 

[JoeZhang]

Plus you know actually working on a professional production with fellow pros.

 

[Smoked Salmon]

Again, I've said this many times. If litigation practice in California is anything like it is in my jurisdiction then Peters would have been warned prior to the commencement of proceedings (and the studio statement of Aug 2015 supports this). I suspect he's known about this for ages.

Agreed. The studios certainly had no incentive to wait and "surprise" him with a lawsuit.

There's no way at all that he didn't see this train heading for them. The real question is who knew what, and when they knew it.

If CBS told him to knock it off in August 2015 (or further back) and they kept going, all they've done is dig the hole deeper. You don't ignore a C&D.

This is why I think they'll no show/response the court.

I think Peters has too much money riding on it not to at least try a defence.

 

[Smoked Salmon]

I was thinking again about the fact that Peters wanted to use this to launch a studio and a producing career. I know if I worked in the film/TV industry and was approach by Peters and I found out about all of this, the first thing I would do is turn and run in the other direction as fast as possible. I'd also hate to see what he would do if things didn't go exactly his way as he tried to work on his original projects, or if it got bad reviews.

I have to wonder if Tony Todd deciding to leave had anything to do with him getting a job on The Flash as the voice of this season's big bad? I could see not wanting to be involved with a fan film while doing such a high profile role on a network TV show like that.

I don't think the Tony Todd situation is linked to that. Peters claims it's about salary, Todd has heavily hinted that he backed out because of how Peters was running the whole thing. Clearly there has been a falling out (and not the first for Peters).

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

From Alec's viewpoint things may have seen alright at CBS and he may have talked to his contacts etc. Paramount maybe the main driving source of the lawsuit, and they had to get CBS involved (because they are the main owners of Star Trek). This would explain how Alec was 'seemingly' blindsided by this. It would also explain why other fan films are ok, because they are only pulling from CBS's IP which they have allowed. As soon as Axanar when into Paramount's territory the gloves were off.

Certainly it's also possible that his contacts at CBS, from what I gather are mostly from CBS Licensing, may not have been fully informed as to what other departments, such as legal, were up to at the time the spoke to Peters. Or were vague because they were legally bound not to say a thing.

But once again, we only have Peter's word that those conversations ever took place. And he's authenticity as a reliable source is ... dubious at best.

One thing to note, within CBS Licensing, STAR TREK is one of many IPs that they handle. There is no dedicated STAR TREK guru as there is for MARVEL at Disney.

However, Peters should've seen this coming a parsec away. Maybe even 12.

 

[Jedi_Master]

You see what you want to see.

 

[SeerSGB]

From Alec's viewpoint things may have seen alright at CBS and he may have talked to his contacts etc. Paramount maybe the main driving source of the lawsuit, and they had to get CBS involved (because they are the main owners of Star Trek). This would explain how Alec was 'seemingly' blindsided by this. It would also explain why other fan films are ok, because they are only pulling from CBS's IP which they have allowed. As soon as Axanar when into Paramount's territory the gloves were off.

Certainly it's also possible that his contacts at CBS, from what I gather are mostly from CBS Licensing, may not have been fully informed as to what other departments, such as legal, were up to at the time the spoke to Peters. Or were vague because they were legally bound not to say a thing.

But once again, we only have Peter's word that those conversations ever took place. And he's authenticity as a reliable source is ... dubious at best.

One thing to note, within CBS Licensing, STAR TREK is one of many IPs that they handle. There is no dedicated STAR TREK guru as there is for MARVEL at Disney.

However, Peters should've seen this coming a parsec away. Maybe even 12.

Him taking a "We can not comment at this time" or some variant thereof and saying "A-ha! They approve!"

 

[9gs]

From Alec's viewpoint things may have seen alright at CBS and he may have talked to his contacts etc. Paramount maybe the main driving source of the lawsuit, and they had to get CBS involved (because they are the main owners of Star Trek). This would explain how Alec was 'seemingly' blindsided by this. It would also explain why other fan films are ok, because they are only pulling from CBS's IP which they have allowed. As soon as Axanar when into Paramount's territory the gloves were off.

Makes sense. Paramount has too much money invested in Star Trek. I would imagine the budget for Star Trek Beyond is 150+Million alone. Plus the main actors have signed on for a 4th film. Anything that threatens this $$ stream is going to get both barrels.

 

[BillJ]

From Alec's viewpoint things may have seen alright at CBS and he may have talked to his contacts etc. Paramount maybe the main driving source of the lawsuit, and they had to get CBS involved (because they are the main owners of Star Trek). This would explain how Alec was 'seemingly' blindsided by this. It would also explain why other fan films are ok, because they are only pulling from CBS's IP which they have allowed. As soon as Axanar when into Paramount's territory the gloves were off.

There's a comment from CBS from TheWrap from August 2015 that suggests they were never all right with it and that they had communicated that.

http://www.thewrap.com/how-1-1-million-star-trek-fan-movie-has-escaped-studio-shutdown-so-far/

“CBS has not authorized, sanctioned or licensed this project in any way, and this has been communicated to those involved,” a representative from the network told TheWrap. “We continue to object to professional commercial ventures trading off our property rights and are considering further options to protect these rights.”

 

[Squiggy]

Still down.

 

[Mudd]

They're probably going through some updating/redesigning in the process of launching this "Ares Studio fundraiser" or something, and someone just fucked up the server.

It's significant that their IndieGoGo is still up - if anyone had taken any action against them today, would they not have gone after that as well?

 

[Jedi_Master]

I am fairly sure that the fundraising websites will only stop collecting fees - I mean "offering services" - if and when an injuction is issued.

 

[SuperSpaceMan]

Still down.

It's back up...