This is true. And why so many writers, producers, editors, and actors make money from working on a franchise which they are fans of. Do I think copyright carries on too long? Absolutely. Is this a Disneyesque zombieright case we’re talking about? Not really.
I’m with Wheaton and Doctorow on this. We don’t need Paramount to attempt a copyright on the language, and this movie is absolutely a cash-grab that doesn’t fly under current copyright laws.
Agreed.
Lawyers can smell a single drop of potential money from up to eight miles down the revenue stream.
What’s the legal definition of each, since you are stating that you know the difference?
This is a fan film. No one is going to make any money on it. I can only guess that Paramount got afraid of this fan film because it was better that what they are producing.
It’s too bad that there isn’t some sort of subjective “aesthetic abandonment” clause. Paramount’s failure to provide any product that resembles what we know as “Star Trek” for the last 10 years would argue that they have abandoned ownership of the property.
That’s right, I’m mocking those tacky space opera/action movies that are branded “Star Trek” yet contain no necessary Science Fiction ingredients. Those movies, while amusing, open up the market for off-brand knock-offs.
It turns out…they don’t.
I too would be interested in the answer. I don’t think there’s any question that this is a fan film in the sense that it was made by fans. Christopher Nolan is a fan of Batman, but his production company still had to pay DC to use their IP for his trilogy. IANAL, but crowdfunding a for-profit venture is commerce, right?
I don’t know what the test of Paramount’s financial interest should be, and I’d surely like there to be a way for fans to share any profits with the IP holders, but I’m pretty sure the test shouldn’t be whether viewers pay for the production before or after principal photography begins.
If Prelude to Axanar is parody or satire, it’s far to subtle for my crude mind to detect.
It’s too bad the talented creators of Axanar didn’t choose another beloved SF property that hasn’t been beaten to death. Did they think SF fans only know or care about Star Trek & Wars? How about one about an epic interstellar war, that already was opened up by it’s original author for others to tell stories in: Larry Niven’s Man-Kzin Wars. I can’t imagine Niven would say no to a well written film made in his universe. It seems unlikely he’s sold ALL the film rights to Known Space, not just to his own novels. He’s been outspoken about wanting to see his work on a screen.
I think this is an excellent piece, not really a film, but interesting and promising. They’ve stuck close to the corpus. The Studio obviously legally has control of copyrights, but I think they should relent and support this effort, at least. Star Trek belongs to its fans. It’s a mythology. Let it have its own life. Studios can still make ungodly sums making Star Trek even if there are hundreds of “fan films.” Not every film will be good, not every film will uphold the canon. Does that really matter? Paramount should just live and let live. They’ve really nothing to lose. If they’re afraid some unannointed citizen will make a better film than they can, then maybe they should just take a hint and do better. Their films have lately lost track of the need for solid story as they’ve become hypnotized by effects and the pornography of monolithic egos colliding. I wonder what Gene Roddenberry would say.
My immediate reaction would be “Don’t sue me, buy me”, but I’m afraid that would simply mean that Paramount would take everything that has already been done on Axanar, put it in storage a la the Ark of the Covenant, and no one would ever see it again. My sneaking suspicion would be because Axanar looks more like what the old school Star Trek fans want to see from the franchise (thoughtful storytelling, with or without Baysplosions!!!11!!), and it makes the current offerings look bad in comparison.
The producers raised a lot of money for this using Paramount’s IP, paid themselves out of that money, and rented the equipment and facilities they obtained with that money to generate revenue. I think that places what they’re doing firmly outside the definition of fan-film.
I still haven’t watched the video, nor read Paramount’s claims, but i am skeptical about whether or not the project does even violate any trademarks or copyrights. If it is not claiming to be Star Trek, using its stories or characters, then I think they would not have a case. Meanwhile, my intuition is that Paramount’s claims are based more on vague “look and feel” criteria which nobody bothered with in the 60s when TOS was made.
I think Paramount are sort of shooting themselves in the foot to pursue this, as franchises which are dwarfed by the fan community are rather special. To a large extent, the fan community of media such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings, etc is why the official releases are so popular and profitable. So long as a work makes no claim to be official, it basically functions as free advertising for the Real Thing. No fans ever say “I’m not going to bother going to see the new blockbuster release, because I just watched a neat fan work on YouTube”. The reality just doesn’t work like that.
Incidentally, I am proud to say that some friends had given their child a Klingon name. And realizing that they are an adult now is making me feel old!
It’s pitched as a Star Trek fan film and it exclusively features Star Trek IP. The producers of Axanar do not have the rights or a license to produce Star Trek content.
So this seems to address some of the concepts that might come up in the discussion of copyrighting a language.
Cory, can you show me the citation in there that says the Supreme Court disagrees with me? Under Legal Controversies, it says the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated an injunction against publication, and that the case was settled. with Houghton Mifflin agreeing to publish the book with the “Unauthorized Parody” disclaimer, along with a donation to Moorehouse College.
So I’m not sure that this proves anything, other than that the estate and the publisher made an agreement out of court. It sure as hell doesn’t say anything about the Supreme Court. And in the case of The Wind Done Gone, the author did make an effort to change the names so that copyrighted material was minimized.
I’m still sticking with it: if I decided to, oh, I don’t know, make a one-hour production of a Family Guy episode and make it about Brian and Stewie having a gay relationship, and then I decided to sell it as a Family Guy episode, I’m assuming I’m going to have a bad time.
But we’ll see what happens. I had assumed that they were going to get hit for stuff like the Axanar Coffee, and for using the crowdfunding to start a venture named Axanar Productions with paid staff members. However, if CBS is trying to pursue crap like a copyright violation on the Klingon language, I’m guessing they’ll have problems pulling that off, and I wonder if someone forgot to trademark Axanar. 
But I’m guessing the main goal is to grind Alec Peters into the ground more than anything, and I’m sure they can drag this out long enough to pull it off.
As a fan of good genre fiction I would love for more content to find an easier path to existence. I want to see this film.
But it’s a commercial venture.
The utopia of the UFP wouldn’t be having this issue.
That’s my home state, for sure!!! Look at that car with a UGA tag!!! Look at those fuckin’ pines!!! Look at my fellow NNNNNERRDDD!!!
