Let’s be blunt. No matter how good the artisitic motives, no matter how profound the sentiment of fans, no matter how skillful the thought that is going into it, CBS and Paramount will in no way, shape or form let an independent production using their Star Trek franchise go forward without having some form of control or financial settlement. Will the project be halted? Legally, they could perhaps do that but, then, the could face something worse than The Wrath of Khan. But CBS and Paramount are now on the legal warpath over a film that has raised big crowdfunding bucks on Kickstarter:
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.”
Enter the concept of intellectual property — a legal concept which has helprf many lawyers pay for luxurious vacation condos, big cars, trips all over the world, memberships in the most exclusive country clubs and $$250 bottles of wine.
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.
Axanar has become one of the biggest film projects in Kickstarter history and has been nearing warp speed with the reported help of Star Trek actor George Takei. The film mines subject area referenced in the late 1960s Gene Roddenberry television series and appears to be a prequel.
According to a description of the movie on the defendants’ website, “Axanar takes place 21 years before the events of ‘Where no Man Has Gone Before,’ the first Kirk episode of the original Star Trek. Axanar is the story of Garth of Izar, the legendary Starfleet captain who is Captain Kirk’s hero. … Axanar tells the story of Garth and his crew during the Four Years War, the war with the Klingon Empire that almost tore the Federation apart. Garth’s victory at Axanar solidified the Federation and allowed it to become the entity we know in Kirk’s time. It is the year 2245 and the war with the Klingons ends here.”
By August, Peters was giving interviews expressing confidence that the project would survive any legal heat. He spoke to The Wrap that month and reported having a meeting with CBS. He says he was told the film couldn’t make money — and evidently, he took that to be a good sign that his film would be tolerated as long as it wasn’t a commercial endeavor. “CBS has a long history of accepting fan films,” Peters told the entertainment site. “I think Axanar has become so popular that CBS realizes that we’re just making their brand that much better.”
Not so fast.
Paramount and CBS, represented by attorneys at Loeb & Loeb, are now demanding an injunction as well as damages for direct, contributory and vicarious copyright infringement. Although the plaintiffs have allowed ample cosplaying over the years and even permitted other derivatives like amateur Star Trek shows to circulate, the lawsuit illustrates that there is a place where no man has gone before, where the entertainment studios are not willing to let be occupied: crowdfunded, professional-quality films that use copyrighted “elements” like Vulcans and Klingons, Federation starships, phasers and stuff like the “look and feel of the planet, the characters’ costumes, their pointy ears and their distinctive hairstyle.”
Here’s the full complaint.In an interview with THR following the filing, Peters says, “We’ve certainly been prepared for this and we certainly will defend this lawsuit. There are a lot of issues surrounding a fan film. These fan films have been around for 30 years, and others have raised a lot of money.”
Read the rest of the Hollywood Reporter piece by going to the link.
As someone who was a fulltime journalist who later switched to (a lowly rung of) entertainment, I’ve seen first hand examples in journalism and entertainment of cases that involved intellectual property or copyright being brought forward. Those in violation are usually cut off at the knees. Yes, they could have their own lawyers but those defending works that they own, franchise or control have their lawyers — and often many more of them. I’ve seen cases in entertainment where entertainers felt they could go as a character because everyone was doing it but the copyright turned out to be fiercely protected. And they wound up not going as that character anymore. When parents call an entertainment company and ask for Sponge Bob they usually don’t get that (or they get an entertainer that will be sued) due to copyright infringement.
Also, weblogs such as The Moderate Voice (a modest sized, privately owned weblog with zero corporate funding and recently raised a little over $2500 in an emergency fundraiser with a modest goal) have long operated under the legal permission/delusion called “fair use,” which is in a way what this film’s producers face. Fair use is allowed as fair use — unless one side declares they refuse to accept it as fair use and demand a post or photo’s removal or a settlement. Similarly, even if CBS and Paramount allowed umpteen fan projects to go through if they are now putting their collective patent leather shoe-covered feet down and intending to enforce every word of copyright and intellectual property law, the likely outcome on this will be a settlement.
This brings to mind a not totally similar case where there was a loophole in a movie franchise that became tied up in litigation, Sean Connery’s independent role in an independently made James Bond film “Never Say Never Again.” From Wikipedia:
‘Never Say Never Again is a 1983 spy film based on the James Bond novel Thunderball, which was previously adapted in 1965 under that name. Unlike the majority of Bond films, Never Say Never Again was not produced by Eon Productions, but by an independent production company, one of whose members was Kevin McClory, one of the original writers of the Thunderball storyline with Ian Fleming and Jack Whittingham. McClory retained the filming rights of the novel following a long legal battle dating from the 1960s.
The film was directed by Irvin Kershner and, like Thunderball, stars Sean Connery as British Secret Service agent James Bond, 007, marking his return to the role 12 years after Diamonds Are Forever. It is Connery’s seventh and final performance as Bond in a feature film. The film’s title is a reference to Connery’s reported declaration in 1971 that he would “never again” play that role. As Connery was 52 at the time of filming, the storyline features an aging Bond, who is brought back into action to investigate the theft of two nuclear weapons by SPECTRE. Filming locations included France, Spain, the Bahamas and Elstree Studios in England.
Never Say Never Again was released by Warner Bros. in the autumn of 1983. It opened to positive critical reviews and was a commercial success, grossing $160 million at the box office, although this was less overall than the Eon-produced Bond film released in June of the same year, Octopussy. In 1997, the distribution rights for Never Say Never Again were purchased by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which distributes Eon’s Bond films, and the company has handled subsequent home video releases of the film.
AND:
Never Say Never Again had its origins in the early 1960s, following the controversy over the 1961 Thunderball novel.[1] Fleming had worked with independent producer Kevin McClory and scriptwriter Jack Whittingham on a script for a potential Bond film, to be called Longitude 78 West,[2] which was subsequently abandoned because of the costs involved.[3] Fleming, “always reluctant to let a good idea lie idle”,[3] turned this into the novel Thunderball, for which he did not credit either McClory or Whittingham;[4] McClory then took Fleming to the High Court in London for breach of copyright[5] and the matter was settled in 1963.[2] After Eon Productions started producing the Bond films, it subsequently made a deal with McClory, who would produce Thunderball, and then not make any further version of the novel for a period of ten years following the release of the Eon-produced version in 1965.[6]
In the mid-1970s McClory again started working on a project to bring a Thunderball adaptation to production and, with the working title Warhead, he brought writer Len Deighton together with Sean Connery to work on a script.[7] The script ran into difficulties after accusations from Eon Productions that the project had gone beyond copyright restrictions, which confined McClory to a film based on the Thunderball novel only, and once again the project was deferred.[6]
Towards the end of the 1970s developments were reported on the project under the name James Bond of the Secret Service,[6] but when producer Jack Schwartzman became involved and cleared a number of the legal issues that still surrounded the project[1] he brought on board scriptwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr.[8] to work on the screenplay. Connery was unhappy with some aspects of the work and asked Tom Mankiewicz who had rewritten Diamonds Are Forever to work on the script; however Mankiewicz declined as he felt he was under a moral obligation to Cubby Broccoli.[9] Connery then hired British television writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais[10] to undertake re-writes, although they went uncredited for their efforts because of a restriction by the Writers Guild of America.[11]
Developments in and reaction to this development are breaking on this story swirling around the beloved TV/movie franchise as you read this.
Bleeding Cool has a statement issued by Peters:
“This morning, I was greeted with news that our production company, Axanar Productions and I, personally, am being sued by CBS Studios, Inc. and Paramount Pictures Corporation for copyright infringement of Star Trek.
First of all, I was disappointed to learn about this through an article in an industry trade. For several years, I’ve worked with a number of people at CBS on Star Trek-related projects, and I would have hoped those personal relationships would have warranted a phone call in advance of the filing of a legal complaint. Nevertheless, I know I speak for everyone at Axanar Productions when I say it is our hope that this can be worked out in a fair and amicable manner.
Axanar is a fan film. Fan films – whether related to Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Power Rangers, Batman or any other franchise – are labors of love that keep fans engaged, entertained, and keep favorite characters alive in the hearts of fans. Like other current fan films, AXANAR entered production based on a very long history and relationship between fandom and studios. We’re not doing anything new here.
Like all fan films, AXANAR is a love letter to a beloved franchise. For nearly 50 years, Star Trek’s devotees have been creating new Star Trek stories to share with fellow fans. That’s all we’re trying to do here.
Since the original Star Trek TV series, when the letter writing campaign by fans got NBC to greenlight a third season of Star Trek, fan support has been critical to the success of the franchise. It is the Star Trek fans themselves who are most affected here, for by suing Axanar Productions to stop making our movie and collect so-called damages, CBS and Paramount are suing the very people who have enthusiastically maintained the universe created by Gene Roddenberry so many years ago.
The fact that many of the fans involved with Axanar Productions are also industry professionals speaks volumes to the influence of Star Trek in the entertainment industry. Not surprisingly, these fans want to give something back. We’re very proud that the work we’ve done to date looks so good. That is also a reflection of the devotion of Star Trek’s fans.
Like everything related to Axanar Productions, we take this matter very seriously and remain open to discussing solutions with all parties that can be mutually beneficial.””
Bleeding Cool also has this post about reaction on social media.
Axanar” follows Garth of Izar, a Federation captain from “Star Trek: The Original Series,” who was idolized by Captain Kirk (William Shatner).
According to the description on the film’s official website, “‘Axanar’ tells the story of Garth and his crew during the Four Years War, the war with the Klingon Empire that almost tore the Federation apart. Garth’s victory at Axanar solidified the Federation and allowed it to become the entity we know in Kirk’s time.”
In an interview with TheWrap in August, Peters said he and his team met with CBS but the network didn’t offer any specific guidelines concerning what his crew can and cannot do — the network simply told him that they can’t make money off the project.
With the news that a new Star Trek movie is on the way next year, longtime fans are excited about a return to their beloved fictional universe. However, CBS and Paramount Pictures, the rights owners for the series, may be looking to stamp out any competition that might draw attention away from the debut of Star Trek: Beyond. The TV and movie studios have filed a copyright lawsuit against the creators of an ambition fan-made movie.
….While the fan film has entered production with not only funding, but also support from Star Trek actors and professional-level special effects, Axanar and film creator Alec Peters have repeated that they can’t make money directly from their movie. He added that the production was to be “based on a very long history and relationship between fandom and studios,” and that “We’re not doing anything new here.”
The fan movie was scheduled to begin filming in January, but it seems likely the lawsuit will delay such work. In the complaint, CBS says that in addition to a new Star Trek movie next year, the studio is planning a new TV series to debut on the CBS All Access streaming service in 2017. The addition of a high-production fan film to that mix is probably more than what the studios want to deal with.
Star Trek: Axanar is a crowd-funded prequel. It’s a big deal — raising over $1 million in crowdfunding. But despite a history of leniency on fan projects, Paramount and CBS have launched a bid to shut down production, claiming it infringes on their intellectual property.
Which, being a fan film, it obviously does.
But Star Trek: Axanar is no ordinary fan film. It’s stated goal is to be a Star Trek fan film that is indistinguishable in quality from other official Star Trek works. It’s backed by a fully professional crew, including some that have worked on Star Trek shows before, that might have raised the eyebrows and ire of the lawyers over at CBS and Paramount.
In what seems like a clear violation of the Prime Directive’s command not to interfere in the affairs of less-developed worlds, CBS and Paramount have filed a lawsuit against an independent, fan-made Star Trek film, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project, Axanar, which has received more than $1 million on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, proposes to create an unlicensed Star Trek movie, as well as an accompanying short film and preview (already on Youtube) with a “fully-professional crew.” Though CBS and Paramount, which hold the rights to the long-running franchise, have often turned a blind eye to fan projects, it seems that Axanar has grown too big to ignore.
….Paramount and CBS, on the other hand, issued a joint statement, writing, “Star Trek is a treasured franchise in which CBS and Paramount continue to produce new original content for its large universe of fans. The producers of Axanar are making a Star Trek picture they describe themselves as a fully professional independent Star Trek film. Their activity clearly violates our Star Trek copyrights, which, of course, we will continue to vigorously protect.” So basically, the message is: Live long and don’t prosper.
The defense counters that Axanar Productions is a purely noncommercial venture, and that all the money raised in the crowdfunding campaigns will go straight into the film’s budget. Implied, if not explicitly stated, is that the producers—and, indeed, contributors to the crowdfunding campaigns—love Star Trek, and maybe CBS and Paramount are doing little more than alienating their base by flipping the proverbial bird to people so passionate about Star Trek, they’re willing to spend millions of dollars paying tribute to it. But—if Star Wars: The Force Awakens is any indication, anyway—maybe the grumbling of disgruntled nerds, in the end, doesn’t really matter that much.
“Axanar” takes place 21 years before the events of “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” the second pilot of the classic “Star Trek” series, which introduced William Shatner as James T. Kirk. The film is described as the story of legendary Starfleet captain Garth of Izar and his crew during the Four Years War between the Klingon Empire and the Federation.
Paramount will release its own movie sequel, “Star Trek Beyond,” on July 22. CBS is also plotting a television revival that will stream on its CBS All Access digital subscription service.
But while CBS has been content to let Star Trek fan films slides in the past, Axanar has financial backing, actor support, and professional-grade effects previously unseen in amateur productions. The lawsuit also comes as CBS recommits to the Star Trek franchise: the network announced earlier this year that it was producing a new Star Trek TV series for 2017, to air exclusively on its CBS All Access streaming platform. In an increasingly competitive streaming market, a new Star Trek gives CBS a legitimate weapon to rival big hitters on Netflix and Hulu, and a way to drive subscribers to its fledgling service. Paramount, too, won’t want a slick fan film distracting potential viewers before its third rebooted Star Trek movie hits theaters in July.
Axanar was scheduled to begin filming in January 2016, and Peters says he hopes to work out the situation in a fair and amicable manner, but the combined legal might of a major movie studio and a major TV network converging on a film that so clearly uses both of their copyrighted materials may put Peters in an impossible situation — his own Kobiyashi Maru.
The film – which touts the participation of a “fully-professional crew, many of whom have worked on Star Trek itself” – has become the stuff of crowdfunding legend, raising over $1 million via Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
Despite CBS previously allowing wiggle room for the circulation of amateur Star Trek shows, the company is taking a stand with Axanar’s use of copyrighted elements, including “the replication of the Planet of Vulcan … including the look and feel of the planet, the characters’ costumes, their pointy ears and their distinctive hairstyle.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r9k2v9hoKk
GO HERE to visit the Anaxar website.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.