No, I'm talking about the entitlement that some fan film makers think they have, that they can do what they want with someone else's property. The entitlement of CBS/Paramount is absolute. They own all of Star Trek.However, if you want to talk about entitlement, just look at Guideline #9. It prohibits registering "any elements of the works, under copyright or trademark law", which means if you reuse an original character in a non-Star Trek film, you can't copyright that character or trademark his or her name. And if CBS or Paramount use your characters or story ideas, and you sue for copyright or trademark infringement, they can just counter-sue for violations related to the fan film and force you into a settlement. They keep your copyrights and trademarks and you get nothing.
Now suppose the actor from your fan film wants to reprise the role of your original character in a non-Trek context and receives your permission to do so. If CBS/Paramount have already appropriated your character for their own use, they may already have copyrights and trademarks with which to sue your actor friend for simply reprising the role he helped create.
So, yeah, you were talking about entitlement?
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Even if you wrote a cannon story, you don't own the parts you created, because it's a work for hire. So how it be different for a fan film, who is doing something that's unauthorized?
CBS/P for a long time has turned a blind eye to fan films, now that they've been forced to look at it, they've been forced to take action. The aren't beholden to the fans Are the guidelines unfair? Probably. Don't like it? OK. But it is how copyright law works. We can discuss the fairness of the guidelines, but in the end, it really doesn't matter. We are allowed to play in their sandbox, by their good graces. Since it is theirs, we have to abide by their rules. If we don't like the rules, we can pound sand, cuz it ain't ours
If you have a character you love, put it in something you control, create your own sandbox and let others play there. Then it'll be your rules and others will complain about them.
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