Not every studio looks the other way as some fanfilms start getting bigger and more "pro".
Fox Shuts Down "Alien Identify" fanfilm
- Thread starter Maurice
- Start date
Too bad really... they could scoop up that talent and put it to work for their corporate pockets.
I get the impression with C&D's is that they are usually the result of a response to someone's specific complaint to the copyright holder. Otherwise they'd usually never find out/care.
Not saying that's what happened here but... it appears to be the boilerplate policy:
Not saying that's what happened here but... it appears to be the boilerplate policy:
a) Someone sees a group/individual borrowing too heavily on established I.P.
b) That someone lets the I.P. holder know by means of some formal complaint.
c) The I.P. holder is then obligated to send a C&D to satisfy the complaint and avoid appearing complacent if/when said project is released.
b) That someone lets the I.P. holder know by means of some formal complaint.
c) The I.P. holder is then obligated to send a C&D to satisfy the complaint and avoid appearing complacent if/when said project is released.
Yeah, way too close for comfort.
I think it says rather a lot about companies that 'let things go' when they don't encroach on their own projects.
I suppose it's sensible of fanfilms to try to avoid the core characters and events of a franchise and work around the edges...
It depends on the company, too. When I was at Namco we'd routinely report Copyright and Trademark encroachments to our legal department. They would contact Google Play or ISPs, for instance, and get such violations pulled. That was company policy so as to not just keep knock-offs from making money off our IP, but mostly to protect our brands and trademarks. Call your game PAC-something and we'd come after you. Likewise, the IP holders for Lost In Space will shut down any fanfilm as soon as they learn of it.
I remain surprised that so many studios have let the fanfilm scene evolve as it has, especially given how much money is being raised for these things now, and how the "perks" often include DVDs of the finished films, which any IP lawyer worth her salt could reasonably argue is effectively"selling" a product based on someone else's IP.
Fascinating.
I remain surprised that so many studios have let the fanfilm scene evolve as it has, especially given how much money is being raised for these things now, and how the "perks" often include DVDs of the finished films, which any IP lawyer worth her salt could reasonably argue is effectively"selling" a product based on someone else's IP.
Fascinating.
I agree. I've always raised my eyebrows at that.
I too get that impression, unfortunately.
I wouldn't really compare what Fox does to what CBS does. Fox has a very long history of targeting the community and shutting down projects. Many game mods and fan films over the years have been killed dead in their tracks.
I wouldn't even consider that Blompkamps production had anything to do with the shutdown. There is after all, another Predator film in the works as well, and that didn't stop the aforementioned Predator : Dark Ages.
There's even a bit of a conspiracy theory that, back in the mid 90s, when a team was making a mod for Quake called "Alien Quake" that after they were C&D'd, one of the developers suffered a break in. The only thing stolen was a PC containing the project files for their mod. A year later the first Aliens versus Predator PC game was released.
No we won't, things have already been set in motion. CBS may announce something by the 50th anniversary, or possibly a little beyond that. A decision on what the series will ultimately be is not set yet, but there will be a series.
Sadly, I can't talk about it. So that said, you don't have to believe me since I can't provide the source at this time. You will simply have to wait till next year (possibly sooner) to see if I'm correct. A series will happen in 2017.
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The difference is that a perk for donation in this case is money given with no guarantee of ever seeing the perk if the project remains incomplete.
The other question is if it constitutes a sale. If I contribute $20 to a campaign and get a pen with a logo on it, did I buy a $20 pen or did they just toss me a freebie (that still cost them to produce) as a gift?
I would think that would be of vital importance given that in this case a donation is not guaranteed to get you anything at all. The project may wind up abandoned before completion.
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