Star Trek Fan Film Maker Didn't Know He Was Being Sued Until He Read the News
- Thread starter PatrickJS
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Nonprofit organizations are allowed to pay their employees for services rendered and the money is being used to build up the studio being used to make the nonprofit fan films. Again, this is only a problem if they're selling the fan film itself for a profit. What they do with the assets and staff leftover afterward is their business and has nothing to do with the owners of the star trek copyright.Zontar said:
The problem is that they're using the funds they received to make the movie to found a studio, which is explicitly being made to be its own company making its own for-profit works in the future.Kajin said:
What is effectively happening is that Peters wants to use the money made from the donations to make the film to make his own studio. That's for-profit as far as I'm concerned, and Paramount and CBS evidently feel the same.
If he'd just used the money to make fan works instead of trying to use it to make money for himself in the long run this would never have happened and the community wouldn't have the end of the decade long free reign to make such works without interference be a real possibility, but he did and now the community has to wait and see if he's single-handedly brought an end to the lax and tolerant treatment of IP violation by a studio Hollywood has ever seen.
"Oh no! A small independent group of enthusiasts is about to make a better Star Trek film with a shoestring budget than we managed to do with hundreds of millions of dollars and free pick of Holywood artists! Better sue them before everyone sees exactly how incompetent we are. I mean, everyone knows it already, but this would really just demonstrate the extent..."
Jandau said:
As I've stated already, the makers of this fan film are doing so for-profit. As I've stated already, Paramount/CBS are remarkable tolerant in regards letting people make fan films using the Trek IP, even going so far as to let actors reprise their roles from the series for them, so long as it's non-profit.sheppie said:
This project, on the other hand, was being made for-profit, which crosses the line.
This. I said this before but people seem to ignore this issue. They have used the money they were given to create Axanar to creat their own studio that they will make future for profit porductions. I imagine that is what has CBS/Paramount pissed off and what will sink them in court. The essentially used the Star Trek IP to get startup money. How did they think they would not get sued for this?Zontar said:
Wow, that sucks. My mom would have really enjoyed that movie.
Between looong gaps between seasons and bullshit like this, hasbro has killed off quite a bit of the brony franchise. It's disappointing to see companies squander the love of a fandom.
I suspect disney is going to be the same way with star wars, and you just know they won't give a rat's ass.
Between looong gaps between seasons and bullshit like this, hasbro has killed off quite a bit of the brony franchise. It's disappointing to see companies squander the love of a fandom.
I suspect disney is going to be the same way with star wars, and you just know they won't give a rat's ass.
I usually dislike fan productions like these, but they seem to have acquired some decent actors this time. There's the guy who played Kurn, Worf's brother. And I think I recognise a few others from the clip. Impressive. However it still has the stilted dialogue and generic feeling of other fan movies.
At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if CBS quietly retracts the lawsuit as damage control and/or blames it on some intern.
No, they really shouldn't. A free alternative is going to cut into profits of the official version. This is why Nintendo struck down that Pokemon MMO that was in production, and why Square had to threaten that team that was making a 3D Chrono Trigger. Both projects, if released for free, can cut into the profits of their own current or future products.Rastrelly said:
Yes and no. This would be a competition, which is always good for the market. If official franchiseholder is unable to compete with noncommercial project they totally deserve to lose profits. It will actually make them to avoid lots of worst business practices we witness these days. This would both stimulate creation of new franchises, actual development of new products, and, at the same time, would not allow to profit from other people's intellectual property. Consider it fanfiction in gamified form =)WhiteTigerShiro said:
Well, this is a God damn shame. Axanar looked really promising, and that preview was pretty excellent, all things considered. I especially like that they managed to involve several former Trek actors, and others from BSG. Even the guy playing Garth looks reasonably like the actor who originally played him. The CGI looks mostly great, and while it's certainly too highly stylized to really look like Star Trek, that's not a bad thing. All the shows could have done with more dynamic staging.
Not when said competitor is using their own ideas against them. Had the people who were working on that Pokemon MMO just made it a game that played similarly to "Pokemon as an MMO", then Nintendo wouldn't be able to touch them. If the team who was working on the 3D Chrono Trigger had been making a game that used all the same mechanics as Chrono Trigger, but with an original story and characters, then Square wouldn't be able to touch them. If either project was cutting into profits, then I'd agree 100% with your point. Square and/or Nintendo would need to step-up their game to provide something to their fans that can compete. Something that says, "Yes, you're paying money for this product versus the other one, but you're also getting this."Rastrelly said:
Actually, some fan fictions have resulted in legal action. As for whether or not the given examples (a Pokemon MMO or the 3D Chrono Trigger) would count as fair use... I don't know. Getting into that would involve learning a lot more about complicated laws than I care to learn about; at least in my current just-got-off-work state of mind.
Yup, this is why I was talking about changing the law on this matter. There must be strictly defined requirements to - let's call it fanfic - a fanfic in order for it to be, well, legal. IMO, it's:WhiteTigerShiro said:
1) Direct disclaimer towards the holder of rights to fanfic source (i.e, in case of a game, developer/publisher logos with big and clearly visible text "BASED ON ORIGINAL PROJECTS OF...", "THIS WORK IS NOT OFFICIAL OR DIRECTLY SUPPORTED BY...");
2) Noncommercial basis. This work must not make any profit. It can be funded, but should not make money.
3) No competitor funding. In case any of competing companies will fund a 'fanfic', it loses protection from legal action.
IMO, this would be absolutely fair.