I found this article that explains CBS's real reason for the Star Trek fan film crack down. They say they are trying to stop huge money making productions full of ex-Trek actors (Renegades probably) and they will ignore any small productions now and in the future.
Quoted from the article:
Van Citters stressed that the guidelines were not designed to quash fan films... "That's not what we're trying to do here," Responding to compiled fan questions, Van Citters explained that CBS won't be going after pre-existing Star Trek fan films which don't adhere to the new guidelines, nor will it be actively reviewing and policing new ones for compliance.
The question is, can they be trusted not to sue any group making a fan film after the new rules came out?
Previous SoylentNews Coverage on the topic:
- Paramount's Lawsuit Against Star Trek Fan Film is "Going Away"
- Axanar Files Countersuit Against Paramount Pictures and CBS Corp
- CBS and Paramount Issue New Guideline for Star Trek Fan Films
Related Stories
According to io9 J.J. Abrams announced that Paramount Pictures' lawsuit against Axanar Productions was "going away.".
The report comes from a Star Trek event in Los Angeles, at which the trailer for Justin Lin's new film Star Trek Beyond debuted:
io9 was at the fan event, where Abrams noted that Star Trek Beyond's director, Justin Lin, was outraged at the legal situation that had arisen.
Axanar is a kickstarter-funded fan film covering events preceding the original Star Trek, and the team responded to the io9 article with cautious optimism
While we're grateful to receive the public support of JJ Abrams and Justin Lin, as the lawsuit remains pending, we want to make sure we go through all the proper steps to make sure all matters are settled with CBS and Paramount.
Paramount's legal manoeuvrings, and IPR claims, have been covered previously on Soylent.
Just when it looked like the Paramount Pictures and CBS Corp. lawsuit against Axanar Productions over the Star Trek: Axanar fan film was winding down after both J.J. Abrams and Justin Lin said last week that it would "go away," Axanar Productions has filed a countersuit against Paramount Pictures and CBS Corp.
The counterclaim was filed on Monday, and it runs twenty-eight pages in length.
A statement from Axanar explained why the counterclaim was necessary. "Yesterday, Axanar Productions, through its law firm Winston & Strawn, filed a response to the first amended complaint filed by CBS Studios and Paramount Pictures. The response includes a Counterclaim for Declaratory Relief that previews Axanar Productions' fair use defense, provides substantive background on how Alec Peters operated in good faith in his dealings with the Plaintiffs, and describes Alec's fruitless four year struggle with CBS to obtain fan film guidelines.
Axanar is looking for a recovery of attorneys' fees and cost, as well as "additional relief the court finds 'just, proper, and equitable.'"
In defending Axanar's use of the Star Trek playground, the defense provided Peters' history as a bona fide Star Trek fan dating back to the original airing of the show. They went all the way back to Peters' childhood, giving a story of Peters' watching the show as an eight-year-old boy. "Mr. Peters is a lifelong Star Trek fan. Starting with the very first Star Trek teaser appearing on NBC in the summer of 1966, Mr. Peters has seen every episode of Star Trek many times over. When Mr. Peters was just eight years old and NBC moved Star Trek to 10:00 p.m., his mother would put him to bed at 8:00 p.m., but would wake him up at 10:00 p.m. only so that he could watch Star Trek, before putting him back to bed again."
The counterclaim also mentioned the support of Abrams and Justin Lin, saying "even Plaintiffs' own producers and directors have recognized the importance of fans to Star Trek, and have publicly renounced and called for an end of the lawsuit against defendants."
The defendants gave their reason for the counterclaim as the "defendants are currently left with uncertainty as to how Axanar may proceed with its film to fulfill the wishes of thousands of fans who have contributed."
Had Paramount and CBS planned on dropping the suit, it will not be possible at this time due to the counterclaim being filed this week. The plaintiffs now have three weeks to answer this latest legal action, and then the defense will have three weeks to respond.
The full counterclaim can be found here.
Amidst an ongoing copyright-infringement case between CBS, Paramount and the crowdfunded fan film "Star Trek: Axanar," the two media companies outlined several guidelines for any future Star Trek fan productions.
In an open letter to fans, CBS and Paramount wrote that they want to support and encourage fan creativity. The guidelines also state that the companies "will not object to, or take legal action against, Star Trek fan productions that are nonprofessional and amateur and meet the following guidelines."
Sounds like Justin Lin and J.J. Abrams didn't have enough clout to make the lawsuit "go away" after all...
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2016, @09:16PM
You know your creative scene is circling the drain when professional work must be based upon existing franchises to succeed and amateurs must follow suit because that's how to get a foot in the door of the professional scene.
It's just like ... oh dear, my comment will be ignored unless I can find a well-known Trek quote to paste here. Whatever will I do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2016, @09:37PM
Beam me up, son of Scotty!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Friday September 23 2016, @01:06AM
I just discovered James Doohan had lost a finger in the second world war! He hid it so well i never did notice.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=JAMES+DOOHAN+LOST+A+FINGER&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=895&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiq_c_QpaTPAhXi8YMKHUrbB3cQsAQILg/ [google.ca]
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2016, @02:21AM
Next please tell us "today I learned" about hand models [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Thursday September 22 2016, @09:39PM
[M]y comment will be ignored unless I can find a well-known Trek quote to paste here. Whatever will I do.
I can't decide if I should refute you are ignore you.... Khaaaaaaaaaaan!
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday September 22 2016, @09:48PM
If you don't defend your trademark, you lose it. That would imply they have to crack down on all the films.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by helel on Friday September 23 2016, @12:24AM
Defending your trademark doesn't mean you need to stop other people from using it, you just need to make them get permission. They could defend it by just going about with a "Sign this to get legal permission to use Star Trek logo or gtfo." Bam, trademark protected and fans happy that they can do what they want.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2016, @03:08AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2016, @10:35PM
"I studied your victory at Axanar when I was a cadet."
Shatner spoke a throw-away line 47 years ago. The line originated in a story which suggested it would be medically ethical to cure mental illness by administering a drug that causes total amnesia.
Axanar Productions and CBS have turned one line of dialogue from a barely watchable episode of The Original Series into a COLOSSAL WASTE OF TIME!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2016, @04:57PM
Shatner spoke a throw-away line....
OK. And Nick Meyer and Harve Bennett took a throwaway line from one of the arguably 'meh' episodes of e first season TOS, [wikipedia.org] and turned it into the movie which always and consistently places as the top of anybody's "Best of Trek" lists. [wikipedia.org]
So what was your bitching about again?
Oh, and Axanar got more than one mention in canon. [wikia.com] In fact, more than two. [wikia.com] So turn in your geek card at the door. And shut up.
(Score: 2) by darnkitten on Thursday September 22 2016, @10:54PM
Well, according to one of the artists involved [talltaleradio.com], the Gristle Gallery in NY is doing a Trek tribute show [gristleartgallery.com] (NSFW warning! One painting contains artistic nudity! Gosh!) --a 50+ artists for 50+ years thing of the sort being done around the country, and Star Trek Mission: New York offered them a co-promotion deal and exhibition space.
Then the franchise lawyers stepped in and not only did they cancel the deal, the gallery had to change the name of the show (to (Space Trip) --yes, in parentheses) and even stop using the Trek-inspired font they were using for promotion....
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2016, @11:06PM
(Space Trip)
Trippy, man! "Star Trek" is a terrible name. It's such a terrible name that "some kind of star trek" has only ever been uttered once in the entire history of the franchise. Kirk and crew weren't on an epic trek to anywhere in particular, but they did meet space hippies and do lots of drugs from McCoy's dispensary. The show should have been named "Space Trip" all along.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2016, @11:36PM
Glad to see some work inspired by The Animated Series. Kukulkan in particular is more of a tragic sympathetic character than the average villainous fake god.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2016, @10:57PM
These guys? Who scrounge funds from indiegogo and kickstarter? Who cut corners and recruit friends/colleagues to act for sake of nostalgia?
Heck, if there was money in it, why don't CBS just license startrek(tm)-brand to productions like this for a lion-share of profits?
Let's face it, conglomerate-owned IP often ends up neglected or discarded, or just plain abused. How many great scifi-series do we have to see terminated prematurely?
I for one applaud and support the efforts of indie scifi-makers, those willing to push ideas and production ahead, irregardless of profit-mongering companies.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Friday September 23 2016, @12:54AM
Prematurely? Perhaps you could talk Zemeckis into lending you a time machine to go back and terminate Star Trek prematurely.
(Score: 2) by FakeBeldin on Friday September 23 2016, @07:33PM
"scrounge funds"?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/194429923/star-trek-axanar [kickstarter.com]: $638k
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/axanar#/ [indiegogo.com]: $574k.
That may not be a triple-A Hollywood blockbuster budget, but that's a lot of money.
See e.g. this list of low-budget movies [hypable.com] - it's hollywood low budget, not indie low budget.
You don't need that much money to make a fan movie (case in point: "The Gamers").