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steve2470

(37,457 posts) Wed Dec 30, 2015, 08:03 PM Dec 2015

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

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/crowdfunded-star-trek-movie-draws-851474

For decades, Paramount and CBS have tolerated and even encouraged fans of the Star Trek franchise to use their imagination at will, but on Tuesday the entertainment companies went to their battle stations and launched a legal missile at a production company touting the first independent Star Trek film.

Axanar, the subject of a lawsuit filed on Friday in California federal court, is no ordinary Star Trek film. The forthcoming feature film (preceded by a short film) is the source of more than $1 million in crowdfunding on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The producers, led by Alec Peters, aim to make a studio-quality film. As the pitch to investors put it, "While some may call it a 'fan film' as we are not licensed by CBS, Axanar has professionals working in front and behind the camera, with a fully-professional crew — many of whom have worked on Star Trek itself — who ensure Axanar will be the quality of Star Trek that all fans want to see."

Paramount and CBS see a violation of their intellectual property.

"The Axanar Works infringe Plaintiffs’ works by using innumerable copyrighted elements of Star Trek, including its settings, characters, species, and themes," states the complaint.

more at link

7 replies

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Crowdfunded 'Star Trek' Movie Draws Lawsuit from Paramount, CBS (Original Post) steve2470 Dec 2015 OP

Oh, shit! I was looking forward to that one. baldguy Dec 2015 #1

TO boldly go where...oh wait no sorry, copyrighted material ahead. Rex Dec 2015 #2

There's a decent argument to be made that Paramount hasn't always defended Trek from infringement LeftyMom Dec 2015 #3

really dumb. Paramount should offer them a distribution deal Javaman Dec 2015 #4

They got some of the original actors involved, too. MohRokTah Dec 2015 #5

Really dumb. The crowdfunded stuff keeps the fans excited and enthusiastic, Nye Bevan Dec 2015 #6

dumb but not unexpected did they really think they would get away with it? dembotoz Dec 2015 #7

baldguy

(36,649 posts)

1. Oh, shit! I was looking forward to that one.

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Wed Dec 30, 2015, 08:48 PM

Dec 2015

Rex

(65,616 posts)

2. TO boldly go where...oh wait no sorry, copyrighted material ahead.

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Wed Dec 30, 2015, 08:51 PM

Dec 2015

Hazard emitters on.

LeftyMom

(49,212 posts)

3. There's a decent argument to be made that Paramount hasn't always defended Trek from infringement

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Wed Dec 30, 2015, 09:10 PM

Dec 2015

via works of fanfiction (Trek fanfiction is so old it used to be mailed around on mimeographed sheets, and most of the common fanfic tropes come from Trek based works: slash fiction is from Kirk/Spock romance stories, etc) from use of images and costumes in cosplay (hell, for decades the best source of patterns and notions to put together uniforms was Majel Barret Roddenberry's company*) and from generally encouraging people to play around in their world. It's totally normal to go to an opening day movie showing and see regular people in full Klingon regalia having bat'leth duels in the lobby of the local multiplex, and that kind of spectacle builds hype at zero cost.

Nobody's going to mistake a fanshot movie that costs less than a single episode of DS9 did to make with a Paramount made studio movie. They spend more than that on craft services.

*When did they finally get a website redesign? I swear last time I looked it appeared to have been put together by a teenager in 1997 and now it looks nice

Javaman

(62,530 posts)

4. really dumb. Paramount should offer them a distribution deal

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Thu Dec 31, 2015, 10:09 AM

Dec 2015

and make their money on the back end.

MohRokTah

(15,429 posts)

5. They got some of the original actors involved, too.

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Thu Dec 31, 2015, 10:49 AM

Dec 2015

So sad. I was looking forward to this.

Nye Bevan

(25,406 posts)

6. Really dumb. The crowdfunded stuff keeps the fans excited and enthusiastic,

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Thu Dec 31, 2015, 11:13 AM

Dec 2015

and only increases their appetite for any official products that are released. The BBC has wisely turned a blind eye to no end of unofficial "Doctor Who" related stuff.

dembotoz

(16,806 posts)

7. dumb but not unexpected did they really think they would get away with it?

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Thu Dec 31, 2015, 11:28 AM

Dec 2015

if you open a burger joint with big golden arches and call it Mc Donalds do you really think
that you will not be visited by the corporations lawyers??????

theft is theft

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