CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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An impersonator would presumably perform the music, and if done for profit would theoretically require a licence to do so, no? A lookalike (i.e. a cosplayer) would not. You mentioned Cawley above, and he performs I think.
Since we're really just filling time while waiting for the other shoe to drop:
Thinking back to my days as a radio disc jockey back in the 70's (yes I'm old. deal with it) there was an interesting record that came out on Elvis's original Sun label a couple of years after Elvis died. It was a duet cover of "Save the Last Dance for Me" and the artist on the label was Jerry Lee Lewis, but his duet partner was an unidentified artist who sounded an awful lot like Elvis. In fact at the end of the record you could hear Jerry Lee say something along the lines of "you did it right Elvis" (I forgot the exact wording but he did say "Elvis"). Of course there was speculation that it was an original recording of the two Sun stablemates that was "newly discovered". I seem to remember Elvis's estate raising a big stink. It turned out that the "Elvis" on the recording was a talented impersonator who went by the name of "Orion" and performed with a mask. I gather the problem was that Sun either manufactured the implication that it was a real Elvis recording (or didn't refute it) in order to sell more records crossed the line, while performing as an Elvis tribute artist under one's own name wasn't a problem, or at least one that could be overcome with some cooperation from the Elvis estate.
Listening to it now. Like the new music! Same child doing the entro as The G&T show? Cool. A little bit older now.
This cracked me up.....
?Shanna?: "I dropped out after two years because of, you know...reasons."
Well, in the music industry there are rules in place for one performer performing a piece of music originated by another performer. So i guess, guys like Cawley have a license to perform covers of Elvis songs.
I remember a lot of "ELVIS IS ALIVE!" gasping and whatnot when Orion appeared almost out of nowhere.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_"Orion"_Ellis
Yes, our announcer girl is growing up!Listening to it now. Like the new music! Same child doing the entro as The G&T show? Cool. A little bit older now.
This cracked me up.....
?Shanna?: "I dropped out after two years because of, you know...reasons."
And that was Shanna saying that (and also doing a Beavis impression). Thanks for listening!
PS Covering songs involves a license, and it's surprisingly inexpensive. These people sell it for just under $15.
Well, let's not forget that a famous, recognizable person owns the right to name and his likeness (including controlling uses of his likeness in "imitations", and this is considered a form of property right just like IP. This right survives his death and passes to his estate in most states (such as Tennessee). And the Elvis Presley Estate specifically transferred all of these rights to a company for managing them and collecting royalties for well over $100 million.
That being said, while, in the 1990s, they were pretty vigilant about chasing Elvis impersonators and requiring licenses and royalties, the have eased up in recent years.
M
Court Order: Judge-led upcoming informal talks aim to provide setting for CBS/Paramount and Axanar to work out a deal in their copyright infringement lawsuit.
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Ah, thanks for pulling that. I doubt I'll blog on it but we will probably at least touch on it on Sunday and then on the next Semantic Shenanigans.Court Order: Judge-led upcoming informal talks aim to provide setting for CBS/Paramount and Axanar to work out a deal in their copyright infringement lawsuit.
RE: Music and license and live performers. I talked with a guy who played country music in local bars. He plays the guitar while his "band" is karaoke tapes, and he as a brief case with the sheet music books of all the songs he intends to play in the set. The one time someone tried to shut him down for copyrights, he pointed out the user-agreement on the tapes and books. Yep, he was covered; nothing the song-writers manager could do about it.
It might depend a lot on what evidence (emails, documents, etc.) Terry has provided. Smoking gun evidence (if it exists) about intentionally working donors to make a for-profit studio would back the studios to go for max penalties, and would utterly destroy the Axanar management reputation. They might want to bury anything like that if it exists.
What sort of deal could save face with donors? I'm not sure. We don't know if there is any money left in Axanar Productions, whether there is insurance to help cover a lawsuit, or who exactly owns the studio asset and if it was 'sold', where that money might be.
I continue to think that any donor money collected in damages would need to be redistributed as refunds by the studio to donors. I can't imagine the PR otherwise.
So all else being equal, if I were parachuted into this situation as Alec at this point, I'd try to get the studios to agree to refund to donors what money they can collect, using the cleansed donor list to do the distribution, in exchange for allowing the studios to totally undo the business assets of Axanar and perhaps obtain some personal agreements about me not being involved in fan films in the future. I'd cooperate in liquidating any holding in the studio asset that Axanar Productions has. And hope fans could see it as a wash, and me as having integrity by pressuring the studios to do a refund (even if the studios were going to do it anyway, and would refuse any such terms to be put on them, I'd try to get credit for it potentially happening by making it part of my demands).
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In the US, venues are supposed to keep up their licensing with the performing rights organizations (PROs) such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, for jukeboxes and live performance. It's not on the performer to obtain a license for live shows.
Recording others' music is a different animal altogether. The link @jespah posted is an easy way to obtain limited licensing at a reasonable cost.
To be honest - this is pretty standard. I seriously doubt we'll see a settlement come out of this conference (and settlement conferences are mandatory in California prior to a Trial - and usually happen during discovery as by that point BOTH sides have laid a lot of their cards on the table and there's less BS flying around. )Court Order: Judge-led upcoming informal talks aim to provide setting for CBS/Paramount and Axanar to work out a deal in their copyright infringement lawsuit.
IF a settlement does occur; I'll be surprised as it will mean Alec Peters isn't as brain dead as he comes across in public; but if anyone thinks at this point CBS/Paramount will come to a settlement that allows Axanar to be made or Alec Peters to keep the financial gain he's experienced over the past two+ years...yeah, put down the pipe; or share what you're smoking because it's got to be so good s**t that really breaks you from reality.
Ayup.
The Terry McIntosh deposition will be in the books by then although the parties might not have had enough time to digest 3 Tb (per Terry M. himself) worth of data before the conference.
I believe it will be clear proof of willful infringement. And if it is, then Judge Eick will be pushing to get AP to take pretty much anything, as willful infringement = punitive damages.
If Sam Beckett leaps into AP at the last minute, then I predict the expression, "Oh, boy!" will go on the record.
That doesn't sound like Mr Peters. If Alec Peters had an approach like the one you describe here he probably wouldn't have got into this mess in the first place.
True, however AP has been scoping out the "fair use" defense so if that defense is used wouldn't "willful infringement" be a given?
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