CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar
- Thread starter Richard Baker
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A side note: I finally got to watch Downfall (it is back on Netflix), and it is simply a great movie.
Just to clarify the "substantial similarity" issue, here is how a leading Ninth Circuit case cited by Judge Klausner--which, incidentally, involved Mariah Carey as a defendant--explains the law:
Here, Judge Klausner held C/P satisfied the extrinsic test, so as a matter of law he must "leave it to the jury" to decide the intrinsic test. So the fact that he did not rule for C/P on this issue is in no sense a positive sign for the defense. Indeed, the intrinsic test is based on whether an "ordinary, reasonable person would find the total concept and feel" of Axanar and Star Trek "to be substantially similar." It's hard to imagine finding 12 jurors who will unanimously answer "no" given the constraints of the judge's ruling.
If there is a silver lining for LFIM, it's that the judge will let him argue that he's not liable for willful infringement:
That will be a tough sell. The emails he'd sent alone show that he had a minimal awareness of what infringement was and how to avoid it. It's going to be interesting times ahead.
Also, cheers for that info. It settles some curiosity I had on the ruling
And here's AxaMonitor's summary of the judge's ruling denying Axanar its fair use defense.
That is what I was thinking. How could he not have awareness of what infringement was when he was turning in others for it?
Indeed
Judge Klausner was not persuaded by Axanar attorney Erin Ranahan’s use of Wikipedia.
^ This was the best thing I've read today - after reading through all the courts docs, it was the perfect response to all the heavy reading
Right, but if he complained about other fan films, and CBS did nothing, he can argue that led him to form a "good faith" belief that what he was doing was not infringement. The test for willful infringement is whether someone shows a "reckless disregard" for, or "willful blindness" to, the copyright holder’s rights. And this is where CBS' decision not to spell out any clear, written standards for fan films prior to the lawsuit gives LFIM an opening, albeit on an issue that only speaks to the level of damages.
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It will go away, just not in they way they envisioned.So I think it is fair to say that Abrams and Lin jumped the gun when stating the lawsuit was going away?
Need to fix this line @carlos " Klausner had found that line of argument unpersuasive when Ranahan first made it in the dismissal motion he rejected in May 2015; " should be 2016 not 2015
Can't all of his comments on podcasts and blogs about his infringments come back to bite him in his butt?
I've updated the AxaMonitor article with Peter's official statement in response to the judge's ruling. If you want a further explication of the spin indicating this was all expected by the defense team, read Peters' (frankly bizarre) Second Life interview from way back in September.
Absolutely. And just to be clear, I'm not saying the plaintiffs' willful infringement claim won't succeed. I think it will. But if there's any room for LFIM to negotiate even a Pyrrhic victory, it will be on this issue.
Meanwhile, here's my favorite Trek-related pun from Judge Klausner's ruling: "Defendants’ attempt to treat the Battle of Axanar as a private little war is unpersuasive."
Oh, and just to put to bed one of the more annoying defense tropes from this case, Judge Klausner made a clear factual finding on this point: "Peters also profited directly from the Axanar Works."
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