CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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That is just the best. The soulful public domain piano/violin music in the background really gives it a Harlequin Romance (TM) sort of feel. I wonder if Fabio is available?
PS Our show last Sunday - Show notes are a little slow this week due to Mike having been traveling. Hoping to get the details up as soon as we can, but paid work comes first of course.
Many thanks, as always, for your kind support.
AFAIK, Paypal takes a percentage of income, probably around 2-3%. It's not in the same league as the KS ~10% or 15% cut.
Regular credit card processing services also charge a few percent on transactions.
And banks also have 'fees' and 'service charges' etc.
So the only way to ensure that your beneficiary keeps the entire amount of your donation is with cash, preferably high denomination, unmarked bills, delivered by a discreet courier in an unremarkable briefcase.
I could almost believe the narration was Peters'.
Just listened. Cracked me up!
Banned.
Jesus. It's their Prime Directive.
How's this for a rule to change the fanfilm industry?
"No cast member on any Star Trek fan production may get paid for their services."
This would not only limit the production to actual fans doing it for their love of Trek and not a paycheck (no matter how meager), but it would also exclude any SAG member due to SAG's rules - not Trek's.
Great show - glad Mike has calmed down (for the most part) haha You did make some great points too, didn't think about JJ like you alluded to, but from his POV it makes sense.
I was going to suggest this was a false flag (to lull Lord Alec and the acolytes into a flase sense of security)......but as you said, the PR was incredibly sloppy and Axanar is just too damn small to matter.
Best Quote
"If you're going to drink the kool aid, know the flavor......" (his later mini-rant on Alec was good too)
You've also got a great command of the 'F' word too
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Somehow that makes the whole thing even more perfect.
That caught my eye, too. They seem to be saying that if they don't consider the guidelines "reasonable" (e.g. lets them make their film, presumably), that they will reject a settlement.
By explicitly saying this, they are positioning themselves as being the parties rising to the mission of pushing back on CBS/P to get reasonable guidelines "for the fans".
What malarkey. If the guidelines are draconian, it is BECAUSE of Axanar's conduct. If the studios won't negotiate on it, it is BECAUSE Axanar has proved bad actors are just too risky to allow a foothold in the former fan film space.
They argue guidelines were inevitable, a Marines talking point of the moment, but that is covering fire obscuring the difference between gradually richer fan films and the outrageous 100x larger IP grab of Axanar.
In the end, if the studio refuses to set "reasonable guidelines" and Axanar says they have no choice but to fight the good fight, they can sell this eliding of the root cause to the fans and the press.
Thing is, if Axanar falls on their sword, it probably will be to the accompaniment of so many outrageous revelations from discovery and dissidents speaking up, that all the self sacrifice pitch will get washed away... eventually.
I suppose Axanar can also argue if harsh guidelines are offered, that it would no be fair to apply them retroactively to existing projects. Except, ooops, their defense insists their project doesn't exist yet.
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However, if I understand correctly, the settlement and the guidelines are two seperate things. The guidelines will be issued regardless of the outcome.
True, the studios are not obstructed from issuing guidelines by having to interact on that topic with the lawsuit.
But I think Axanar can still say anything they want as terms for settlement. They have said their objective is to seek a resolution that will allow them to tell the story of all-caps-anar, and if the guidelines prevent them from doing that, I think they'd fight it.
To avoid this, I think the studios would just make the terms in the settlement for Axanar in particular even more restrictive than the guidelines. That way, Axanar has to fight the settlement terms before they even get to the guidelines. Tricksy hobbitses.
The funny thing about this (as it's taken from the Defense response) - they claim Peters is a Star Trek 'Superfan' - yet then tries to claim he has no clue what he's infringing on or who actually owns the rights to Star Trek.
^^^
The thing about this is - the Judge is free to consider anything entered into the record by the Defendants. So he's also able to ask, hey, if you're so into/knowledable about Star Trek - who can you NOT know what you infringed on or who owns the rights? (IE for a lawyer to include something like that which basically argues - "Hey my client is So into Star Trek - he SHOULD be entitled to make his own film about it REGARDLESS how the Copyright holders feel..." They must smoke some good s**t"... at the W&S offices IMO - because including that in a legal response (as some mitigating circumstance? Or some form of defense against Mr. Peters actions to date) is l(IMO) just ludicrous.
Edited to add:
I just realized that by mentioning Mr. Peters work selling Star Trek props with/for CBS; they made 'Propworx' relevant - IE C/P probably now could introduce Alec Peters actions as the owner of 'Propworx' - including its bankruptcy; if they wanted to.
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I thought the SAG rules provide exceptions for some limited non-profit or charitable work?
The simplest rules to allow "business as usual" while preventing another Axanar would be to have any fan production vetted by CBS, a nice bold disclaimer by CBS Legal that this project is authorized to make a FAN PRODUCTION ONLY and is not sanctioned, licensed or authorized in any way to engage in any other production using Star Trek IP, and can be shut down at any time for any reason by CBS. I could see crowdfunding being prohibited as well, although that is a grey area.
Anyone not 'approved' to make a fan film can be shut down for any reason by CBS Legal.
IRL I expect the guidelines to be a bit more draconian.
You predicted that Defense would not file an Answer until the very last minute, or perhaps miss the deadline entirely. But then just 48 hours later .......
Can't wait for the next episode.
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