It makes me sick that Paramount feels so threatened by this. They get a cut from authors writing books. So, license these productions & take a cut. Worst of all, they are restricting former cast members, writers, set & costume designers, etc. Seriously? These people can't be fans & participate in fan films? Is that even legal? How then can they be featured at conventions or record for audiobooks? How are audio dramas (including audio books) any different? I guess I'M the idiot...
1.) Regarding licensing
Companies don't license the products they themselves create. Why would you allow for a product that will compete with your own? It makes no particular sense.
Additionally, licensing is far more involved than just saying, "Go for it and we'll take ten percent." First, the licensee actually pays a hefty fee for that privilege. In this case, Simon&Schuster/Pocket Books are paying that fee in order to publish
Star Trek novels.
Second, in order to manage a brand, you have to actually
manage the brand. This means overseeing content produced under license and ensuring that it meets your goals and standards. To do this costs time and money.
Therefore, assuming CBS and Paramount decided to let fans create a competing product, which is utterly ridiculous, the questions are: Will CBS and/or Paramount recoup their administrative costs from licensing fees and a share of the revenue? Will they make enough money on top of that to satisfy investors? Can fan film producers afford to pay a licensing fee and do they generate any revenue? Would fan film producers even be interested in giving up creative control in order to have that stamp of legitimacy?
2.) Regarding restrictions
As RCAM said, a company may sue for copyright infringement as it is the act of creating an infringing work that is illegal, not protecting that work. Under copyright law, that company can also selectively enforce their intellectual property rights. Thus it is perfectly reasonable for them to say "here are the conditions under which we will not sue" with anyone who goes outside of those conditions doing so at their own risk. Should someone go outside of those conditions, such as by bringing in professional cast or crew, they would simply exist in the same gray area that existed before the guidelines: CBS and Paramount might turn a blind eye or they might sue.
3.) Regarding professional cast and crew
Professional cast and crew can be featured at conventions while not used in fan films because those are two very different types of appearance. I hope I don't really have to explain the difference between a convention appearance and a fan film.
Professional cast can do professional voice work recording audio books if those books are licensed. They can do this work because those products are licensed. If you are having a Trek-alum read your unlicensed audio book then you are existing in the gray area of tolerance that fan films enjoyed prior to the guidelines. As there are currently no guidelines with respect to audio books, the best advice would be to continue being discreet.
Audio dramas currently exist in the gray area of tolerance that fan films enjoyed prior to the guidelines. As there are currently no guidelines with respect to audio dramas, the best advice would be to continue being discreet.
And that's what it comes down to when you play with someone else's IP: be discreet. These fan film guidelines were the result of fan film producers, Peters in particular, not being discreet. They started trying to one-up each other by bringing in more professional talent with bigger, more impressive resumes. They competed to see who could offer the best perks. They drove the fundraising higher and higher.
The guidelines for fan films were inevitable.
