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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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Starting from scratch? That's some task, I wonder how hard they're trying to complete it?

See, this is the flipside of being so successful at crowdfunding. They've had a lovely time seeing the money roll in and it appears that money has been spent on what the Axanar team perceive to be the right things. But that flipside is delivering on what they offered people in return for their money, and I'm not just referring to the movie. Give them the benefit of the doubt and say that without the lawsuit they'd be filming away and the shoot may even be nearly be completed, they still wouldn't be sending out the perks.

The cynic in me wonders if they realised a long, long time ago that they'd never be able to get on top of sending out the perks but they'd figured that by the time it became an issue the donors would be kept at bay by evidence of the movie being completed, more scenes released like the 'Vulcan Scene That Wasn't On Vulcan. Honest.' etc.

Hey, maybe that scene being released was also part of a distraction tactic?
 
trynda1701 said:
I take it that if we get to Wednesday without a settlement agreement being reached, the announcement of any named Does will be on PACER?

Plus, if others are named, would there be future announcements of any details of their hiring of their own lawyers?
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Noname Given said:
Yes, any amendments (and the addition of any 'Does' would qualify) should appear on Pacer. As to details about the lawyers they hired; said lawyers would file their own responses as to the fact they are now representing a named client - and would provide their name and law firm that they are with so the court knows where to mail any correspondence. The Lawyers could even ask for a separate trial for a given defendant; but unless there are real extenuating circumstances, it's doubtful such a request would be grated as courts try to keep their own costs down; and a trial costs the government a lot of money/time.
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I don't know whether it was on the G&T show or the C/P vs Axanar facebook group, but I could swear I saw it postulated somewhere that the whole use of 'Does' in the lawsuit was purposely intended to scare people into coming forward, giving up info and strengthening the prosecution's hand.

The cynic in me thinks C/P have had their 'list' made up for some time now already......aside from LFIM, there's 'Laurel & Hardy' (Terry & RMB), Diana K. and various production staffers like the former director (Christian Gossett) and the VFX whiz (Tobias Richter) possibly. This, IMO, is the 'Inner Circle'. They knew full well what they were doing (trampling on C/P's IP) and they were making money to boot (LFIM payed himself a salary, Tobias got paid, the whole issue of 'Ares/Valkyrie Studio'......).

People who merely donated time on the other hand, whether it be by designing a ship like Sean T. or doing whatever else, are exactly the kind of people C/P would be looking to scare. C/P isn't necessarily out to string these people up next to LFIM - I think if they have good knowledge of who the 'ancillary' parties are, then they know that these people probably weren't intimately involved in any of the planning or execution, but they still might have info/knowledge that could prove useful in crafting any settlement or at trial.

*(I could be totally wrong though.....C/P could be out for blood and name everyone under the sun........or they could not name anyone else and let LFIM feel the heat on his own........)*
 
carlosp said:
Daily coverage of Axanar is available at Axamonitor.com.
.
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Oh… right. They’ve lost the data. Because that’s what it sounds like – either that or they’re just stalling for whatever reason. Whatever package they’re using has a query language so pulling out information is simple enough – even if the “database” is spread over a number of files in different formats – which Peters seems to be indicating. If it was a completely bespoke system coded up by whatever programming language, again, it’s simple enough to pull the data out to create address labels, while adding a flag (or flags) against each donor indicating what perks have been sent to them. It doesn’t matter if there’s two donors or two hundred thousand – using numbers as an excuse is always a red flag that something else is wrong.

And what’s being said by those quoted in the article doesn’t make sense. If the original guy has wandered off with the original database, then bringing in a new team to work on a new one is pointless as all the donator details are on the original…. The new one will be empty!! Unless, what they’re referring to as a “database” is the shell written round the data files, and they still have those raw data files….. and if that’s the case it’s a couple of days work (at best) to create a pretty new user interface once you find a new server to put it on.
 
Triple-F said:
It doesn’t matter if there’s two donors or two hundred thousand – using numbers as an excuse is always a red flag that something else is wrong.
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Smells like gross incompetence. Despite all the lofty talk, LFIM and his co-horts have repeatedly demonstrated they don't have the smarts/good sense that God gave goats. If they did, then we wouldn't have been poking holes in everything all this time.
 
Triple-F said:
.... using numbers as an excuse is always a red flag that something else is wrong.....
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Exactly. It is a few database tables. The following fields, I am sure, are included (or at least they should be), although some may be combined while others may be split:
  • Name
  • Address (possibly split up by line so as to show state in order to have a list of people to contact when going to a convention in their area, plus foreign addresses would be split off as postage is higher and the fields differ, e. g. Canadian postal codes contain letters whereas American ZIP codes do not)
  • Credit card type
  • Credit card # and related information such as expiration date (agree with @Sgt_G it is concerning that this sort of information is included - and it must be - as there are signs of possible commingling)
  • Possibly phone numbers if needed for delivery
  • Might be preferred type of delivery (e. g. UPS, FedEx, or post office, and some sort of 'other' for overseas)
  • Item name and number
  • Item weight
  • Packaging information if any of the goods are breakable or if posters can go into tubes
I haven't really gotten into the $$ aspect of it although it might also include last donation date and/or size of donation. At least Mr. McIntosh seemed to have that information at his fingertips so I imagine it's in there.

But even if it is fairly complex and contains, say, 300 fields per row, there are still maybe a million rows and I seriously doubt it is that many. A proprietary solution was not necessary, and neither was a really big solution like Oracle. This could have been handled with MS Access, off the shelf and available bundled on Amazon with the rest of MS Office for $400 (I checked yesterday). A person who knows MS Excel well can be taught Access fairly readily. The main thing they need to learn is about differing table joins and certain queries which change the database such as update and delete. Make sure a backup is in place in case someone really screws up and deletes all the data and you are in business, on the outside, in a month.

Yes, a month.

PS Nothing new on PACER.
 
jespah said:
Exactly. It is a few database tables. The following fields, I am sure, are included (or at least they should be), although some may be combined while others may be split:
  • Name
  • Address (possibly split up by line so as to show state in order to have a list of people to contact when going to a convention in their area, plus foreign addresses would be split off as postage is higher and the fields differ, e. g. Canadian postal codes contain letters whereas American ZIP codes do not)
  • Credit card type
  • Credit card # and related information such as expiration date (agree with @Sgt_G it is concerning that this sort of information is included - and it must be - as there are signs of possible commingling)
  • Possibly phone numbers if needed for delivery
  • Might be preferred type of delivery (e. g. UPS, FedEx, or post office, and some sort of 'other' for overseas)
  • Item name and number
  • Item weight
  • Packaging information if any of the goods are breakable or if posters can go into tubes
I haven't really gotten into the $$ aspect of it although it might also include last donation date and/or size of donation. At least Mr. McIntosh seemed to have that information at his fingertips so I imagine it's in there.

But even if it is fairly complex and contains, say, 300 fields per row, there are still maybe a million rows and I seriously doubt it is that many. A proprietary solution was not necessary, and neither was a really big solution like Oracle. This could have been handled with MS Access, off the shelf and available bundled on Amazon with the rest of MS Office for $400 (I checked yesterday). A person who knows MS Excel well can be taught Access fairly readily. The main thing they need to learn is about differing table joins and certain queries which change the database such as update and delete. Make sure a backup is in place in case someone really screws up and deletes all the data and you are in business, on the outside, in a month.

Yes, a month.

PS Nothing new on PACER.
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A mailing list of 10k names with purchase records could be handled with dBase II, an XT, and 8 inch floppies. Not being able to do it with HAL machines/software by comparison, and a world full of 12 year olds who could do it, is um, well, ... shall we say an excuse?
 
carlosp said:
ARES DIGITAL is dead; long live Ares Digital? Axanar appears to be starting from scratch in developing software to ship its languishing perks to increasingly impatient donors. New on AxaMonitor »
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Huh. I totally forgot that the production company could possibly 'buy' the thing from Mr. McIntosh.
I haven't heard anything from Alec or anyone else at Axanar that Ares Digital is in play — meaning I haven't received a formal offer to buy the technology
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Okay, they don't appear to be making such a move, perhaps will never be inclined/funded to do so, but that they could or might want to? Interesting

Even people who don't like each other or have issues with each other sometimes make business deals like that one. There seems to be this unwritten rational or something where 'It's only business' gives acceptable reasoning to doing business deals with people/companies someone is on the outs with for any number of reasons.

So, this could be interesting to me to watch. Terry gives the appearance in that quote to be open to a buy out, the production has a need for it..... I just never thought about that before
 
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jespah said:
Make sure a backup is in place in case someone really screws up and deletes all the data and you are in business, on the outside, in a month.

Yes, a month.
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hmmm... There's an interesting few words :hugegrin:.... now what might one infer from........

Wait. No, on second thought you were more likely just showing how fast it would be to recover from losing all one's data if it's backed up?
 
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Sgt_G said:
Well, yes and no. The thing is, for the entire week after JJ Abrams made his announcement, people all over the 'Web were asking why hadn't CBS/Paramount dropped it yet.

Be. Cause. They. Can't.

Because of the counter-suit, they are forced to go to the next phase: settlement talks. You are correct in that during these talks, both sides could agree to drop the case and walk away. But CBS/Paramount can't simply drop it as JJ implied.
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Actually, CBS/Paramount could drop it anytime (or the settlement could be "we drop both claims together." <-- That this hasn't happened is pretty telling of the situation). And JJ NEVER implied C/P was dropping the case (bolstered by the fact Paramount removed Alec Peters "Why Love Star Trek" video made at the booth at the ST:B event.)

Bottom line: If C/P just wanted this case gone (including the Axanar counter claim) it would be. They admitted the day after JJ Abrams comments they were in talks - so if Axanar was offered on the Monday - "Hey you drop yours, we'll drop ours ..." and didn't take it; then Erin Ranahan is an idiot. (Or Alec Peters if he said 'no' <-- which is also a possibility meaning he's the idiot here - big surprise, eh?) If they weren't offered that it shows C/P had no intention of outright dropping the case in the first place; but were directed by Paramount management at least (due to the actions of Justin Lin/JJ Abrams) to work for a settlement. But (IMO) the fact the case itself hasn't 'gone away' two weeks after JJ's comment speaks volumes. (YMMV.)
 
DaveGalanter said:
What'd *I* do that made you cringe?

(That's an honest question, looking for a sincere answer. If there's a knock against my behavior, I'll take it on the chin. Who knows--I may agree.) :)
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It seemed to me that you were baiting him. I get that you have legitimate issues there (and I'm no fan of AP and RMB), but there's something to be said for taking the high road. It's one thing to have a go at someone when it's on topic, but it gave the feeling that you inserted yourself there, off-topic, for the sole purpose of getting into a spat with him.

I could also have read it wrong, so YMMV, and it doesn't make me think less of you. I just found it unnecessary is all. They have enough shovels over there to dig their own graves without help. :)

muCephi said:
A mailing list of 10k names with purchase records could be handled with dBase II, an XT, and 8 inch floppies. Not being able to do it with HAL machines/software by comparison, and a world full of 12 year olds who could do it, is um, well, ... shall we say an excuse?
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Or they could have written a quick script to convert whatever format Kickstarter gave them into a CSV and fed it into Microsoft Word's mail merge function to print labels. Or simply done it by hand using the modern miracle that is the ballpoint pen...

Yeah, I'm not buying the "OMG database!" thing either.
 
ThankYouGeneR said:
hmmm... There's an interesting few words :hugegrin:.... now what might one infer from........

Wait. No, on second thought you were more likely just showing how fast it would be to recover from losing all one's data if it's backed up?
Click to expand...


Data Back-Up???


1.jpg
 
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