CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

[Firebird]

Ranahan's doing her job and I can't exactly fault her for that, but Alec & co. are going down, no doubt - the only question being whether it will be a hard or soft landing. I also hope that no matter whether or not some of Terry's super top-secret evidence gets admitted or not, that he does release it all at some point, if only because some/all of it might finally get Slow Lane to STFU

http://fanfilmfactor.com/2016/12/17/new-motions-filed-to-limit-evidence-in-the-axanar-lawsuit/

If this were to happen, would it risk being judged as inadmissible in court?

 

[jespah]

Putting something out on social media or the like doesn't automatically affect admissibility.

 

[oswriter]

Ranahan's doing her job and I can't exactly fault her for that, but Alec & co. are going down, no doubt - the only question being whether it will be a hard or soft landing.

I think it's even money that at trial Ranahan asks Judge Klausner to declare LFIM a hostile witness.

Gossett and McIntosh are the two most damning witnesses against the defense at trial, hence the motion to exclude them as a "smear campaign." Gossett basically forecloses any attempt to retcon Prelude as something other than an unlicensed derivative work of "Star Trek." And McIntosh establishes LFIM's commercial intentions.

 

[ThankYouGeneR]

I think it's even money that at trial Ranahan asks Judge Klausner to declare LFIM a hostile witness.

I 'think' with the emoticon you used you are showing you don't really mean that and that you're just having a laugh here, right?

 

[muCephi]

Okay, everyone, we have our motions to exclude evidence.

Silly me, thinking "Vulcans are not Trek" was their defense. "Trek is not Trek". Its a thing of beauty suitable for an Obsidian Order award.

...Everyone else had IBM selectric typewriters...

I liked the autocorrect best - reverse white-ribbon overstrike from memory. and Orator.

Gate Keeping Behaviors (Alpha Nerds):
Shanna: "...So they'll be like one of those birds that puffs up their chests and their throats sacks during mating season. ........ it's really really annoying. It's this 'idea' that hierarchies wlth big name fans and Alpha Nerds start to get constructed. And the people who are kinda at the top of the ladder at least 'fancy themselves' at the top of the ladder THEY START POLICING THE FANDOM, DICTATING WHAT'S APPROPRIATE AND WHAT'S NOT.... AND EVEN POLICING TASTE. We see it all the time in fandom. This idea that My kind of fandom is the only right way."
..."

Tell them you do agree with them, but overall are guided by the quote "The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper", and you are looking elsewhere than being a fan to achieve this.

Here is Jonathan Lane's article titled "New motions filed to limit evidence in the Axanar Lawsuit"
...
I get the impression that if he gets on the witness stand he will throw the other fan productions under the bus.

They *are* the bus, and he will be in the witless stand with just his superior analytical abilities to predict which way to jump.

There is a rumour that if Axanar gets made Trump is going to play Kharn the Undying

Truly unpresidented.

All the plaintiffs have to do is show tweets...

Yes. Jurors will not be able to take their eyes off tweets. They have been trained to need it like an IV drip dependency.

 

[jespah]

Well, the main thing is the tweets could be seen as an indicator of intent (which would be a way to get them admitted as an exception to the hearsay rule - showing intent isn't the same as using them to try to prove those statements' veracity). And if the tweets, even one of them, are admitted, then they are going to be admitted wholly unredacted and that means the full Twitter handle will have to be shown. Hell, just show the URL.

PS I analyzed plaintiffs' motions first:
http://www.semanticshenanigans.com/axanar-plaintiffs-motions-limine/

I will work on defense, er, sometime, probably today. The holidays are a-comin' and I am going to potentially start making latkes and hope to not burn the house down.

PPS We're live streaming in about an hour or so:
http://www.gandtshow.com/streaming

Thank you, as always, for your kind support.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Silly me, thinking "Vulcans are not Trek" was their defense. "Trek is not Trek". Its a thing of beauty suitable for an Obsidian Order award.

Only if they win.

 

[Squiggy]

How bad is it when you don't want your own accountant's testimony to be used as evidence?

 

[oswriter]

How bad is it when you don't want your own accountant's testimony to be used as evidence?

It's not really evidence unless it supports your position, right? Along those lines, I expect to see this in the next round of arguments:

"Your Honor, we don't think the plaintiffs should be allowed to tell the jury about copyright laws. It will only confuse them."

 

[Squiggy]

"My client's illegal acts will only prejudice the jury against him."

 

[JD]

^At this point, I wouldn't put that past them.

 

[jespah]

My client's blue shirt may prejudice the jury. However, it's the only color shirt he owns. Therefore, we request a recess to go to the mall.

 

[jamestyler]

My client's blue shirt may prejudice the jury. However, it's the only color shirt he owns. Therefore, we request a recess to go to the mall.

Thats a step too far.

Peters would NEVER buy any other shirt!

 

[oswriter]

Heeding Madam Justice @Chanukahjes most recent post, I looked at the C/P motion to exclude Prof. Jenkins' testimony. It contains two excellent examples of the proper use of snarky footnotes in a brief. The first one basically calls out Jenkins for parroting the views of another person:

Prof. Jenkins appears to have consulted with an outside attorney on the subject and simply reframed her opinions as his own. On September 27, 2016, Prof. Jenkins published a blog post with excerpts from a conversation he had with Georgetown Law Professor Rebecca Tushnet, “who has extensively studied the legal implications of fan culture.” Jason Decl., ¶ 5, Ex. A. It is clear from these excerpts that Prof. Jenkins’ independent knowledge of what constitutes transformative use is non-existent and that his expert report is merely an facsimile of Professor Tushnet’s remarks. Notably, Prof. Jenkins did not include his interview with Professor Tushnet in his list of sources, which is a violation of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(B)(i) (“if the witness is one retained or specially employed to provide expert testimony in the case... [t]he report must contain... a complete statement of all opinions the witness will express and the basis and reasons for them”). Plaintiffs uncovered this source independently during a review of Prof. Jenkins’ recent blog postings.

Tushnet is with the Organization for Transformative Works, a leading copyright reform outfit that I suspect may play a role in this case down the line. Of course, this footnote makes me wonder if the defense did not reach out to Tushnet directly to be their expert, and if so whether she turned them down. Tushnet is definitely aware of this case, although I believe her only public comments to date have been criticism of the CBS fan film guidelines, not the lawsuit directly.

The second footnote accuses the defense of misleading their own witnesses:

Just like how Defendants failed to show their other expert (Mr. Tregillis) the actual financial statement for Axanar prepared prior to the litigation, and instead only showed him the doctored one prepared for the purpose of the litigation, Defendants similarly failed to show Prof. Jenkins a key document in the litigation. Defendants inexplicably did not show Prof. Jenkins the script that Mr. Peters testified [REDACTED]. As a result, Prof. Jenkins has no opinion as to whether a motion picture based on that script would be harmful to the Plaintiffs, and no opinion on whether such a film would be "transformative.

 

[BillJ]

My client's blue shirt may prejudice the jury. However, it's the only color shirt he owns. Therefore, we request a recess to go to the mall.

Wouldn't they first need a Kickstarter to acquire the money to buy the shirt?

 

[muCephi]

Thats a step too far.

Peters would NEVER buy any other shirt!

Tell him it will be Captains' Off Duty Wear in Discovery.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Thats a step too far.

Peters would NEVER buy any other shirt!

I dunno, I thought he actually looked pretty dapper in that Fleet Captain's wrap-around.

 

[muCephi]

Has anyone else noticed a change to public access to the cbs axanar fb page in the last week or so? It isn't showing text anymore if you are not logged in/a fb user. Was there an admin decision to force membership to read?

 

[Earthrise]

Has anyone else noticed a change to public access to the cbs axanar fb page in the last week or so? It isn't showing text anymore if you are not logged in/a fb user. Was there an admin decision to force membership to read?

It might be a FB error. The mobile site is still accessible if you aren't logged in.

 

[jespah]

Has anyone else noticed a change to public access to the cbs axanar fb page in the last week or so? It isn't showing text anymore if you are not logged in/a fb user. Was there an admin decision to force membership to read?

I don't think so but I'll ask when I hit up FB today.