[Elnian]

You can view the article at https://ufplanets.com/news.php?1240-...ject-Shut-Down

[Infinity]

Fantastic article! Apologies it took a couple of days!

[Minnow Raydor]

Does seem a little more "understandable" but still it does not sway my thoughts of there company and track record to date. Nice Article people just wish CBS would do the same with the recent issue and send out a press release might show that they perhaps give a crap.

[Elnian]

It's a shame, really. The fans made Star Trek popular again, only to have CBS rip it away.

The development team behind Stage 9 is looking to take their existing blueprints and systems they developed for the Enterprise-D, and move into other sci-fi areas. Perhaps something completely original, or even maybe venture into The Oreville territory? I'm not sure what policies FOX has regarding fan projects, but I don't think they can be nearly as strict as CBS' policies. Seth MacFarlane would probably get a kick out of it!

[Mack]

I don't like this move from CBS. If they think this is constructive for the Star Trek franchise as a whole, they're wrong.

[aceman67]

I don't like this move from CBS. If they think this is constructive for the Star Trek franchise as a whole, they're wrong.

It's heavy-handed yes, but the project was textbook Copyright infringement, it fails all 4 tests under 17 U.S.C. § 107

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
   -- A Virtual Tour of the Enterprise D has been released commercially before, and this is basically a Replication of that (http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/S...chnical_Manual)
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
   -- The Entirety of the Stage 9 project uses content (The Likeness of the Enterprise-D and some of its Crew) that is not their own or licensed for use by CBS/Paramount-Viacom, the copyright holders, or permission from the Actors
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
   -- Stage 9 attempts to make a 1:1 recreation of a copyrighted work, and that is not allowed under 17 U.S.C. § 107
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
   -- It competes with already released commercial products, the above mentioned Technical Manual and the Bridge Crew TNG DLC.

if you fail 1 of the above, you fail to qualify for Fair Use. It sucks this happened, but it's entirely within their rights to issue a C&D.


Issue explained by a Copyright Lawyer

[Mack]

It sucks this happened, but it's entirely within their rights to issue a C&D.

I'm aware about IPR. Star Trek the franchise has always been an IPR - it's not something that's new and that CBS patented for recently.

Fan-films and such sets were always a thing till CBS suddenly realized that projects like Axanar and ST: New Voyages are "infringing" them and decided to create guidelines which pretty much made it pointless to do fan projects.

And it was honestly projects such as this and fan-films than made Star Trek the franchise it is today, as much as the official shows.

The disappointment is not about them excersizing their right - they've been having this right for as long as Star Trek existed, it's the disappointed of them doing it with intention of all together pushing out all fan projects as a whole prior to launch of Discovery.

CBS execs are not taking the right steps, they can have all the legal justifications on their side - that's another matter all together.

[aceman67]

You won't get any arguments from me on that, Mack, CBS is the Electronic Arts of Television. They're fully taking advantage of the fact that Star Trek fans tend to have higher income and thus nickle and dime us all.

[Chris Rogers]

They seem to be doing it since the new Disco and the new Picard Trek spin off's have been announced...

[Mack]

They seem to be doing it since the new Disco and the new Picard Trek spin off's have been announced...

Nah, it started way back with Axanar (Before Discovery was announced and it was in the air that Star Trek will return to television)

[Kyuusaku]

Oh, it's been going on for longer than Axanar, it's just Axanar was a higher profile issue. Before CBS bought the complete rights, Paramount in the late 90s and early 2000s were going after fan websites pretty hard. They had switched to a new law firm and said firm was trying to prove their worth by actively protecting the IPs they were charged with. Several friends got hit with C&Ds for using screenshots and images without permission. They "corrected" their policy not longer after it caused a huge backlash and came up with a good faith review process. CBS appear(s/ed) to be following the same thing, but Stage 9's whole project was doomed from the start, I'm afraid.

-- Kyuu

[Hyperfinity]

I found a petition to save Stage 9: https://www.change.org/p/cbs-save-st...6-e1a2850460bb