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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...
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CBS and Paramount Issue New Guideline for Star Trek Fan Films
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by jdavidb on Friday June 24 2016, @06:06PM
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 1) by Francis on Friday June 24 2016, @09:24PM
I have serious issues with IP laws, but this is not one of them.
The reason why this section of law is the way it is is to prevent the situation that China has. I used to live over there and you had absolutely no way of knowing if things you were buying were officially licensed. Generally, I just assumed that the DVDs weren't licensed, but you didn't have any way of knowing, which meant that even IP holders that were behaving reasonably faced unfair competition from pirates.
The whole idea that this stuff should be free really only works for low budget works produced by grants. I'm not sure where they would get the money to film a Star Trek film if they weren't assured a limited time monopoly over sales to finance it.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Saturday June 25 2016, @03:30AM
I'm not sure where they would get the money to film a Star Trek film if they weren't assured a limited time monopoly over sales to finance it.
But what's "limited" to you? In particular, what's the benefit to society of the present life of grandchildren copyright term over something that would expire within the lifetime of people who saw the first run?
(Score: 1) by Francis on Saturday June 25 2016, @03:09PM
Star Trek wouldn't be in the public domain in this regards anyways. This is a franchise that's still being used by the owner, this isn't something that's been put to pasture.
Also, this is as much a trademark thing as anything else and that's never been limited in time, you get to have the mark as long as you follow the rules.
The issue isn't Star Trek, the materials are out there and it's not going to disappear. The things that are a problem are the less commonly distributed media that can and will disappear because nobody is exploiting it.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Sunday June 26 2016, @05:45PM
Also, this is as much a trademark thing as anything else and that's never been limited in time
Are you referring to trademark in the names and likenesses of a work? Exclusive rights in such marks become much weaker once the U.S. copyright has expired. Fox tried using rights under the Lanham Act as an ersatz copyright and got smacked down by the U.S. Supreme Court in Dastar v. Fox [wikipedia.org].