Axanar - Crowdfunded 'Star Trek' Movie Draws Lawsuit from Paramount, CBS

[asalaw]

Update just FYI - Judge Klausner denied Defendant's Motion to Dismiss in all respects - including Defendants’ argument that the Axanar film can’t be judged infringing as it hasn’t been completed yet (unfortunately, Axanar made some posts on social media - which the judge quoted repeatedly - about a “fully revised and locked script”, which has come back to haunt them as the judge feels that the “locked script” gives him enough to work with at this point.)

IMHO, the most illuminating line of the Denial is the following:



In other words, the judge has given - IMHO - a clear heads-up on how he will be approaching this case. We’re not going to be arguing over nitty-gritty details of whether the Four Years War was actually shown in TOS, or whether the Axanar emblem is distinguishable from the chevron shield. The inquiry is going to be a much higher-level “does Axanar copy the big-picture copyrightable aspects of the Star Trek universe - setting, ‘look and feel’, mix of races and species, and so on.” The fact that, for example, it contains new characters and story points is going to help much if those new characters are peaceful logical Vulcans, warlike Klingons who speak a unique language or noble captains of starships that fly the flag of the United Federation of Planets and are clearly modeled after those in the Federation fleet. This approach to framing the inquiry is a big win for the plaintiffs.

M

PS - that amicus brief regarding copyrightability of the Klingon language was also thrown out as being irrelevant to the proceedings at this point (neither party has asked the judge to rule on whether the Klingon language is copyrightable, and he’s signaled that whether it is or not isn’t going to be determinative of whether the Defendants infringed the overall copyrights hald by CBS/Paramount.

Yup. Axanar is toast. Their defense doesn't really hold any water, despite the clickbait media's claims to the contrary.

This might be the least surprising revelation since the last time Shatner's toupee blew off.

 

[Solo4114]

Well some of us do it simply because we WANT to play in that universe. Around 3/4 of our cast and crew had never been involved in making a film or webseries or anything else ever before, they just wanted to do the adult version of playing Star Trek in the basement.

That part is all well and good, but the issue becomes publicizing it. Just showing it to your buddies at home? Less of a problem. Uploading it on Youtube for all the world to see? Pretty much infringement. Tolerated infringement, maybe, but generally indefensible otherwise. Nobody's stopping anyone from playing Star Trek Let's Pretend. They're stopping folks from filming that and showing it to the world, basically. (Although, as noted, Paramount/CBS has generally tolerated a lot of this stuff.)

Update just FYI - Judge Klausner denied Defendant's Motion to Dismiss in all respects - including Defendants’ argument that the Axanar film can’t be judged infringing as it hasn’t been completed yet (unfortunately, Axanar made some posts on social media - which the judge quoted repeatedly - about a “fully revised and locked script”, which has come back to haunt them as the judge feels that the “locked script” gives him enough to work with at this point.)

IMHO, the most illuminating line of the Denial is the following:



In other words, the judge has given - IMHO - a clear heads-up on how he will be approaching this case. We’re not going to be arguing over nitty-gritty details of whether the Four Years War was actually shown in TOS, or whether the Axanar emblem is distinguishable from the chevron shield. The inquiry is going to be a much higher-level “does Axanar copy the big-picture copyrightable aspects of the Star Trek universe - setting, ‘look and feel’, mix of races and species, and so on.” The fact that, for example, it contains new characters and story points is going to help much if those new characters are peaceful logical Vulcans, warlike Klingons who speak a unique language or noble captains of starships that fly the flag of the United Federation of Planets and are clearly modeled after those in the Federation fleet. This approach to framing the inquiry is a big win for the plaintiffs.

M

PS - that amicus brief regarding copyrightability of the Klingon language was also thrown out as being irrelevant to the proceedings at this point (neither party has asked the judge to rule on whether the Klingon language is copyrightable, and he’s signaled that whether it is or not isn’t going to be determinative of whether the Defendants infringed the overall copyrights hald by CBS/Paramount.

I love the fact that freakin' NPR ran an article on the Klingon issue, cited guys from the EFF (ugh), and then the whole thing just gets ignored AS IT SHOULD BE because the issue isn't "Did they use the Klingon language" but rather "Did they copy the work." There are so many other things wrong with Axanar beyond JUST the use of the Klingon language that saying "Ok, well, the Klingon language is free for all" still wouldn't save them.

The whole story and subsequent discussion...ugh, it was just so ridiculous to read people going through these tortured analyses about why the language should be free for all to use, when the whole discussion completely ignored the way in which it was used by Axanar. There were goofy discussions about how copyrighting Klingon might make it so that computer languages could be copyrighted and so on and so forth. It was like listening to people try to describe a forest by engaging in an elaborate discussion about the molecular chemistry that goes into the creation of tree bark.

I enjoyed Horizon. And I agree that Paramount was being extremely generous when they told you to get out of their basement. The Axanar folks broke into Paramount's basement, and are now telling the cops why they shouldn't be forced to leave the premises...

If I could get a message to the Axanar folks, this would be it:

Dear Axanar creators:
I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed your "Prelude to Axanar" preview. It is smartly written, well acted, and beautifully filmed. It is, in all respects, better than the latest two movies. (4 movies, actually.) You are to be commended for your skills and artistic vision.

HOWEVER, you seem to have no concept of how things work in the real world. Anyone with the most basic understanding of the law could see no way for you to challenge Paramount and CBS openly and succeed.

Furthermore, not only is your stubbornness going to doom your own project, it is putting several other good fan film productions in jeopardy. Shooting yourself in the foot may not be smart, but it is your prerogative. Shooting the other filmmakers' feet - even if it's unintentional, and even when their works aren't as good as yours - doesn't reflect well on you.

Like the genetic engineers in Jurassic Park, you were too preoccupied with what you could do, and not enough with what you should do.

I have a shorter version:

Dear Axanar,

Don't throw poop at the proverbial 800lb gorilla.

Hugs and sloppy kisses,

Every other fan film out there.

Yup. Axanar is toast. Their defense doesn't really hold any water, despite the clickbait media's claims to the contrary.

This might be the least surprising revelation since the last time Shatner's toupee blew off.

Seriously. It's just ridiculous. The only reason this has been publicized at all is because Axanar publicized it, and they did so with a completely wrong understanding of the law. I mean, honestly, my read of this stuff has been as if you're engaged with an argument with someone about speed limits, and they're trying to argue that, no, no, the REAL speed limit is, like, 75mph. No. It's not. Sign says 55. The cops might not pull everyone over, but if they pull you over and you're doing 80, you're gettin' a ticket unless you're driving your pregnant wife to the hospital.

 

[ghostryder]

Wow:

https://twitter.com/StarTrekAxanar/status/733855709629054976

 

[Wes R]

How in the heck did they manage that? He musta really sweet talked Paramount.

 

[brandomack]

Haters gonna hate, but he did it.

 

[ghostryder]

 

[Solo4114]

Interesting. Still doesn't change the legality of it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BlobVanDam]

Given how Axanar disrespected and spat in the face of CBS/Paramount, I find this news quite disappointing. I at least hope there was some agreement or understanding that Axanar wouldn't continue to abuse the Star Trek IP for their own gain and put every other fan film in jeopardy.
To me the timing and placement of this announcement felt like largely PR, but I don't think it was necessary.

 

[Treadwell]

Yeah, this is actually horrible news. JJ and Justin think they're standing up for the fans, and bless 'em for having their hearts in the right place. It seems they don't realize what kinds of characters they're bending over backwards for, and that the actions of those being sued are not representative of the fanfilm world. By supporting them, those who have seen what's been going on will continue to view all of us as being of the same cloth.

 

[mistymills]

Has there been any sort of official release about this from Paramount/CBS or their representation? All I've heard are reports that Abrams said it, but haven't seen anything official on it.

I'm also wondering why they'd do that when it's the world's stupidest move. Maybe I should now start crowdfunding millions of dollars for my Trek series! After all, a series is more expensive than a film and we have a proven track record of releasing items so people would know their money is going to a real production and not a movie studio someone is trying to start.

 

[CutThumb]

I think this actually more of a tactical decision to prevent ST:Beyond getting slaughtered pre general release on social media by certain parties and turning it into a multimillion dollar disaster for the studios, rather than anything else. Its no coincidence we've just had a new trailer release AND suddenly the films director and JJ get this turned around? I admire the way they are trying to handle a poor situation and smacking a fairly vocal portion of STfandom BEFORE a studios new ST film comes out is NOT clever at all. Doing this is. Smart move.

ST:Beyond budget is $150 million before advertising costs. Axanar is peanuts in comparison. Who REALLY looses by turning this into a war right now? Plus there is the new TV series to consider. Make that a success, projects like this will struggle to find finance.

 

[cboath]

I figured right now - they're going to go hard after anyone with a movie and TV series coming up in the next year.

Not sure where you get off using professional actors, crew, using starfleet and the ships without being drilled by lawyers and rightfully so.

Must be something else in the background - not defending trademarks from stuff like this moves you towards losing the trademark.

 

[mistymills]

Well you CAN use professionals, but it's saying that it's an indie professional film and NOT a fan film is not cool.

 

[Wes R]

I was thinking maybe Paramount and these folks agreed to share profits and have Paramount release it. It might be an interesting thing for Paramount to approve fan projects and release them even if they don't fund them. I also agree given how much support Axanar was getting even for all the missteps they may do this for positive PR because you know the new show and movie would get slammed hard by new and old trekkies online.

 

[firesprite]

A smart move by Paramount would be to "sponsor" Axanar in a theatrical run, donating a portion of the proceeds to charity... Just sayin'.

 

[cboath]

Well, that'd invovle Paramount spending a good deal of money to get it in a release to studio format (digital and film most likely), distribute it, and get theaters to play it. Now, if axanar group wants to fork over that money - then maybe....

They can hammer them in court, but they'll lose the PR battle and probably be forced to go after others to show they're properly protecting the trademark.

 

[NormanF]

I assume the producers of Axanar wore knee pads and washed their mouths out afterwards. That, and/or they worked out some sort of licensing agreement.

Sent from my Motorola StarTAC

 

[asalaw]

Has there been any sort of official release about this from Paramount/CBS or their representation? All I've heard are reports that Abrams said it, but haven't seen anything official on it.

I'm also wondering why they'd do that when it's the world's stupidest move. Maybe I should now start crowdfunding millions of dollars for my Trek series! After all, a series is more expensive than a film and we have a proven track record of releasing items so people would know their money is going to a real production and not a movie studio someone is trying to start.

I agree. Abrams spoke out of turn. There's no official announcement anywhere. No way did CBS or Paramount legal give him the go-ahead to say that; no corporate lawyer would allow someone to publically say the company is backing down, especially when Axanar apparently has received no notice from CBS/Paramount. Public announcements regarding settlement negotiations and agreements are very, very carefully vetted. They're not sent out via interlopers, and certainly not with language like "go away." The idea is ludicrous.

And yes, it would be an insane move. They're not gonna just "go away" in the face of a for-profit studio using their IP to raise a million dollars. Expect a carefully worded denial from CBS/Paramount in the next day or so, or even a retraction from Abrams. I bet his cell phone is on fire right now.

JJ needs to sit down with a nice hot cup of STFU.

 

[YenChih Lin]

Think what you want, I'm grateful JJ intervened, I'd like to see Axanar in its complete glory and not only a 22 min prelude

 

[mistymills]

They won't ever license a fan work. There is way way way too much liability in that and it blurs the lines too much. There is also no official response from the studio yet, so I am going to wait to see the terms of how they settle before I make any real decisions on how I feel about it longterm. Everything else from anyone is a knee-jerk reaction based on thirdhand information at best.