Category: Editorials

Okay, I just couldn’t wait anymore!  I had to know…was  a settlement reached in the Axanar copyright infringement lawsuit????

If you read my previous blog on the subject, you know that the two sides–CBS/Paramount and Alec Peters/Axanar Productions–were ordered by judge R. Gary Klausner to sit down for one last-ditch attempt to work out a settlement before going to trial.  Magistrate Judge Charles Eick was assigned to facilitate the discussions.  There is a court-mandated gag order on all discussions of the content of the settlement talks, and so all we got from Alec Peters on Monday evening was this:

We did not reach a settlement, but we are close. We will know by week’s end, as the attorneys have a call with Judge Eick Friday.

Everyone needs to manage their expectations. A settlement means neither side gets exactly what they want.

That sounded promising–or so I thought.  But as Friday (today) wore on and Alec wasn’t answering my texts of “So…any news yet?” I was getting antsier and antsier.  Their Monday meeting had lasted past 9:00p.m., so I tried to be patient and not bother Alec over and over again.  I failed.

But my persistence paid off…kinda.  I finally received the following comment approved from Alec for posting to FAN FILM FACTOR: Continue reading “BREAKING (NO) NEWS!!! NO SETTLEMENT (yet) in AXANAR LAWSUIT!”

Just imagine: going to FAN FILM FACTOR and not seeing the words “AXANAR LAWSUIT’ at the top of the home page…

It could happen!  Yesterday, the two sides had a court-mandated meeting to discuss ways to settle the case before going to trial.  Most lawsuits settle before ever reaching trial (like 90-95%, I’m told) because it’s usually not worth the cost and the risk of losing to ether side.

Also, full trials take up a LOT of time in court.  So far, the Axanar case has required only a few hours of a judge’s actual time on the bench (plus some extra time in chambers reviewing filings).  But an actual trial can take days or even weeks to finish, plus the costs of sitting and potentially sequestering a jury.  So it’s often in the best interests of the legal system, as well, for cases to settle rather than coming to trial.

And so Judge R. Gary Klausner (the main judge in the Axanar case) ordered both sides to try–really try–to come to an agreement…a compromise where both sides give a little and get a little.  Magistrate Judge Charles Eick, who had just made two major rulings in the discovery phase, was told to facilitate the settlement talks on Monday.

Continue reading “Will the AXANAR LAWSUIT settle???”

Remember back in the first half of this year when the initial documents were being filed in the Axanar lawsuit?  Remember how each time one side or the other would submit their latest filing, it would suddenly look like it was “game, set, and match?”  And then the other side would respond, and it would seem like a knockout blow for that side.  And on and on.

Well, history seems to be repeating itself…

Continue reading “ALEC PETERS’ attorney fires back hard at CBS/PARAMOUNT legal team in AXANAR LAWSUIT!”

And so we come to the fourth and final part of this blog series.  (Time sure flies when you’re writing 2,000 words a day!)  Here are links to Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.  If you haven’t read them yet, to quote Pavel Chekov, “Now vould be a good time.”

It’s probably pretty darn busy right now at CBS and Paramount.  What are been asked for (or rather, ordered) by the judge will most likely require all hands on deck for much of the week–tracking down documents and e-mails and financial records, compiling them, composing careful answers to submitted inquires from the defense, and creating a full privilege log.  Plaintiff’s Attorney Jonathan Zavin said as much in court last Friday toward the beginning of his presentation (I’ll post the court transcript when I receive a copy) and even called the amount of documentation requested “unduly burdensome” 25 different times in the plaintiff’s responses in the Joint Stipulation document.

So, where does everything go from here?

Continue reading “AXANAR LAWSUIT discovery ruling – what does it all mean? (Part 4)”

Before we jump back into the legal battle of Axanar, I strongly recommend you read Part 1 and Part 2 of this blog analysis if you haven’t already.  There’s a LOT that happened last week involving the Axanar copyright infringement lawsuit, including a 2-hour long court hearing and a ruling by Magistrate Judge Charles Eick of the Federal 9th Circuit Central District.

The judge’s ruling gave the defense (Axanar) nearly everything it wanted from the plaintiffs (CBS and Paramount) that the studios were refusing to turn over during the discovery phase.  Discovery is when both sides in a lawsuit get to ask the other side to show them all the cards in their hand (or, in this case, documents, e-mails, and answers to questions during witness depositions).  The idea is that neither the plaintiff nor the defense should be bringing out some surprise piece of evidence during trial that the other side never saw coming.  Yeah, I know it happens all the time on TV, but it’s not supposed to.  Both plaintiffs and defense should be allowed to prepare full arguments based on all the evidence that will be presented in court.  If one side doesn’t see the evidence, how can they put together a proper rebuttal?

Continue reading “AXANAR LAWSUIT discovery ruling – what does it all mean? (Part 3)”

If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, go read it now.  Then come back.

Welcome back.  Shall we begin…?

When last we left off, the focus was on J.J. Abrams and Justin Lin and their public comments about Axanar.  The studios have now been ordered in a ruling by Magistrate Judge Charles Eick to turn over:

All Documents and Communications relating to the statements made by J.J. Abrams on or about May 19, 2016 that (a) Justin Lin was “outraged” by this lawsuit; (b) this lawsuit “was not an appropriate way to deal with the fans”; (c) “fans should be celebrating this thing”; (d) “[f]ans of Star Trek are part of this world”; (e) Justin Lin “went to the studio and pushed them to stop this lawsuit”; (f) “within the next few weeks, it will be announced this is going away”; and (g) “fans would be able to continue working on their project.”

And Atlas shrugged.  Many of the Axanar detractors, and indeed, even the plaintiffs and their attorneys have said, “So what?”  These two men aren’t spokesmen for the studios.  They were hired out as directors, and therefore, any opinions they might have are hardly relevant to the case.  Who cares what they both said in their e-mails to the studios about Axanar?  We already know what they think anyway!

Here’s why it’s important…

Continue reading “AXANAR LAWSUIT discovery ruling – what does it all mean? (Part 2)”