Exploring the world of Star Trek fan films.
Last time, we began looking at the PLAINTIFFS Motion for Partial Summary Judgment in the AXANAR copyright infringement lawsuit. In Part 1 and Part 2, we looked at the DEFENSE Motion for Summary Judgment. There’s been a LOT to cover, but we’re finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (I’m just not sure whether or not it’s an oncoming train!).
Okay, so let’s say you to want to bake a winning copyright infringement lawsuit…what do you need to win?
Last time (and the time before that), we took a look at the defense’s DEFENSE Motion for Summary Judgment in the AXANAR copyright infringement lawsuit. Now it’s time to take a look at the PLAINTIFFS Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and see what they have to say. And they certainly have a lot to say (as did the defense).
The first question you might be asking is why the plaintiff’s motion is only for a partial summary judgment. The answer is actually rather simple. They aren’t asking for the judge to stop the entire case, only the parts where the plaintiffs could lose and the defense could win. In other words, they want Judge Klausner to say that the defendant Alec Peters infringed and shouldn’t be allowed to make any more Axanar anything. But, you ask, isn’t that all there is…is there nothing more? Oh, there’s one more thing still to determine…
Last time, we began to analyze the DEFENSE Motion for Summary Judgment that was filed by the AXANAR legal team on Wednesday with Judge R. Gary Klausner of the Ninth Circuit Federal Court.
The attorneys for CBS and Paramount also filed a PLAINTIFFS Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, and I look more thoroughly into that in my next blog. But the defense won the coin toss (yes, I actually flipped a coin to see which side would be analyzed first!).
When last we left off, we had just gotten to the “meat” of the defense’s motion:
“FAIR USE” – WHAT THE HECK IS IT?
It was the best of crimes; it was the worst of crimes…or was it even a crime at all? (Actually, this is a civil trial, not criminal…but I needed a word that rhymes with “times.”)
Looking at the two motions for summary judgment filed late Wednesday night by the two parties in the AXANAR copyright infringement lawsuit, one might wonder if he or she had just read a tale of two completely different fan films. The defense, unsurprisingly, had that “What…little old us?” look as they discussed a mostly original piece of creative fiction that used just the smallest sliver of Star Trek–and only the “minimum” that was necessary to tell its story that was actually a “critical commentary and analysis” of “the present-day military industrial complex.”
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs painted a picture of a nefarious fan who maliciously tried to line his own pockets with ill-gotten gains taken from the good and just studios who have made Star Trek lo these 50 years. His fan film contains nothing original and was simply a “…copy from the plots, themes, settings, mood, dialogue, characters, and pace of the Star Trek works.” The very existence of Axanar in any way will “…cause irreparable harm to the market for the Star Trek Copyrighted Works…” and must be ended immediately “in the public interest.”
They can’t both be right, can they?
The following message was just sent to all AXANAR donors…
In light of information contained in the Motions for Summary Judgement filed by both sides in our continuing litigation with CBS Studios and Paramount Productions, we think it’s important to provide some information to our fans and backers to help put everything into context:
Continue reading “AXANAR PRODUCTIONS releases an important update to DONORS!”
Yep, we can now safely assume that the two sides in the AXANAR copyright infringement lawsuit have NOT reached a settlement yet.
It came quite literally down to the wire! I checked with the court at 11:30 pm Pacific Time and neither side had filed any motion yet. I was wondering if they’d somehow managed to settle the case after all. But when I returned shortly after midnight, I found multiple filings from both the plaintiffs and the defense.
There’s a LOT to read through and analyze, but for right now, I just want to get the two main filings up for you all to look through. Please note, before anyone starts doing victory laps or predicting this or that outcome, remember that each side gets to respond to the opposition’s motion and then each side gets to then respond to that response. And finally, the two legal teams present oral arguments before Judge Klausner before he finally rules shortly thereafter. It is FAR from over, folks!
Okay, here’s what was filed last night:
DEFENSE Motion for Summary Judgment
PLAINTIFFS Motion for Partial Summary Judgment
Each of these filings goes on for 20 pages, and they both reference other documents (including my own “History of Star Trek Fan Films”). However, there is a downloading/viewing charge for accessing each document (up to $3 per document), and I want to see if I can perhaps get the supporting evidence documents directly from the defense team (for free) before I spend all my Google Ad revenue for the year just getting PDFs for all of you (and me, of course).
And finally, yes, I intend to provide an analysis of both of these motions–their strengths, weaknesses, and any surprises I found (and there’s quite a few). But I’m traveling next week, so I don’t know if I’ll have enough down time to write up something thorough enough until after I get back. We’ll just have to see, but thanks for your patience and understanding.
Well, it looks like there isn’t a settlement yet in the AXANAR copyright infringement lawsuit. And how do I know this? Because I now have confirmation that the defense will be filing a motion for summary judgment with Judge Klausner of the Ninth Circuit Federal Court later on today. (I don’t yet know if the plaintiffs are planning to do likewise, but if a settlement hasn’t been reached, then it’s a pretty sure bet.)
And how did I get confirmation that the defense will be filing their motion later today? Because yesterday evening I was asked to sign this declaration:
Tomorrow (November 16) is the deadline to file motions for summary judgement in the AXANAR copyright infringement lawsuit. And while the two sides are supposedly still in talks to settle (they reportedly had a conference call meeting yesterday), we’ll know tomorrow whether or not a settlement is imminent.
How? Well, by the end of the day tomorrow–if they aren’t really close to a settlement or there already–we will most likely see two major filings from the legal teams: each a motion for summary judgment. And what the heck is that, you ask…?
Continue reading “TOMORROW we’ll know if the AXANAR lawsuit has settled or not…”
I’m a designer, not a programmer, dammit! Well, I’m also a writer and a usability specialist…but coding? That stuff is HARD, man!
You might remember that, a couple of weeks ago, I announced that FAN FILM FACTOR was no longer living as a sub-domain at fff.trekbloggers.com. We had migrated this entire blog site–all TWO HUNDRED blog entries plus graphic files, videos, PDFs, etc.–onto my own domain server at fanfilmfactor.com. And there was much rejoicing.
Until something bad–something very bad–happened…
Continue reading “All those pesky FFF.TREKBLOGGERS.COM links are finally GONE (I hope)!”
Back in April of 2015, a new Star Trek fan series called DREADNOUGHT DOMINION premiered with its initial episode, “Haunted.” Three months later, a second episode, titled “Anchors Aweigh” (a bit of a prequel to the first episode), made its debut. It wasn’t the only TOS-era fan series to feature the crew of a non-heavy cruiser class starship, but it was the first and only one to feature the crew of a Starfleet dreadnought-class starship based on the mid-1970s Franz Joseph Star Trek Technical Manual.
Thanks to a 3D model created by Kenneth Thomson, Jr. and Thomas Phong, the beauty shots of the tri-nacelled USS Dominion in the opening credits and during the episodes were gorgeous. The two episodes were filmed primarily on the very impressive TOS sets in Starship Farragut’s Studio Two in Kingsland, GA (also the shooting location of Star Trek Continues).
A year earlier, another fan series, Starship Valiant, made its debut on YouTube with an introduction vignette titled “Legacy.” Valiant was filmed using the TOS bridge set at Starbase Studios in Oklahoma City. (The following year, a “special edition” version of “Legacy” with added footage was posted after Starbase Studios built a new sickbay set.) Valiant has since completed principal filming on its second episode “The Ties That Bind,” although post production is still ongoing and the second episode hasn’t been released yet.
So what do these two fan series–filmed in different locations in different states during different years–have in common? A man named Vance…
Continue reading “DREADNOUGHT DOMINION and STARSHIP VALIANT cross-over in “CHAIN OF COMMAND”!”