HardcoreDandDGirl
First Post
basically yet another attempt to argue "The cops didn't stop THAT guy from stealing a TV so I thought it was legal..."
Axanar meets legal resistence from CBS
basically yet another attempt to argue "The cops didn't stop THAT guy from stealing a TV so I thought it was legal..."
Ryujin
Legend
I was looking more toward the end, where he made comments about how the whole thing could be handled.
Once again, David Gerrold is the wise old man of science fiction. They really should make a special Hugo for him.
I'm still left wondering what makes Anaxar so special & threatening to CBS. It took in more crowdfunding then any other Trek fan project, but it's not the only one to feature the work of industry professionals.
Fan-made Trek has been freely & widely available for many years now. Why target this one project?
Anaxar isn't competition, it's free marketing. Hell, it's better marketing for the brand than CBS has done in a dog's age.
I'm still left wondering what makes Anaxar so special & threatening to CBS. It took in more crowdfunding then any other Trek fan project, but it's not the only one to feature the work of industry professionals.
Fan-made Trek has been freely & widely available for many years now. Why target this one project?
Anaxar isn't competition, it's free marketing. Hell, it's better marketing for the brand than CBS has done in a dog's age.
Ryujin
Legend
And that may well be it. Axanar has gone from being free publicity that keeps the franchise alive in the lean times, to something that they see as actual competition.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
Maybe, but if Axanar decides to defend themselves, they probably have a good argument that the monetary damages of any copyright infringement is very small because CBS was lax about those other fan productions that clove even closer to the IP. If those caused no damage or so little that CBS did nothing about them, how much damage could Axanar really have done?
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
That's probably the case - my guess is Axanar wouldn't be generating much notice from CBS if they weren't working on their own next Star Trek show.
Maybe Axanar strays *too far* from Star Trek lore, and is thus becoming conpetition. The other fan films generally continue the adventures of the Enterprise or its crew, which in turn promotes the original Enterprise adventures. My understanding is that Axanar is based on a stray few lines about a historical period the Enterprise had nothing to do with.
Maybe CBS/Paramount simply doesn't want non-Enterprise related fan films.
Mustrum_Ridcully
Hero
I haven't looked i tup myself, but it might be that the transparency actually might have revealed something that could look concerning. Something about the funding being used to build a studio (whcih in and on itself might be neccessary to make the movie) that could be used for profit in later endeavours. That could be the problem, and an issue no other fan film had yet. (Or at least wasn't provable.)
Note that part of determining Fair Use is not just the potential damages from one instance, but the consideration of what would happen if a particular form of use became common. If it would become damaging if common, then it is not fair use.
So, what would happen in million-dollar, high quality, professionally staffed fan-funded productions of Trek became common? What would that do to the value of the property to CBS/Paramount? I think we can say it would reduce that value quite a bit. Thus, not fair use.
I doubt CBS really cares if they get paid damages in this particular suit - I suspect the request for damages is pro forma.
I am beginning to think that there's a difference between a fan production, and a fan-funded production. Specifically, if there's professionals on the project getting paid, then they aren't really working as fans. There comes a point when enough fo these sorts of people on the project make it no longer be a fan production.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
It's not even a question of fair use. I don't think there's any argument in favor of fair use with any fan films that aren't educational, parody, or excerpts used in review. New, derivative works simply aren't fair use. My point would be of use in defending against any claim for damages.
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