Safi Bugel, The Guardian; Copyright claim against Tolkien estate backfires on Lord of the Rings fanfiction author
"A Lord of the Rings fanfiction writer has lost a copyright lawsuit over the publication of his own sequel to the much-loved series after opening up a counterproductive legal battle against JRR Tolkien’s estate."
"While comics readers got to see these teams fight in 2012's "Avengers Vs. X-Men" event and a number of other series, the cinematic universes have been kept separate due to Disney and Fox's competing rights. Thanks to this supercut, fans can experience a glimpse at the super-powered showdown they may never get to see on the big screen, featuring Storm taking on Iron Man, Wolverine challenging the Hulk, Jean Grey facing Scarlet Witch, and more!"
"What if Harry Potter’s parents lived? What if Spock and Captain Kirk were in love? What if Joan of Arc was a woman of color hearing the voice of God in 21st-century New York instead of 15th-century France? For readers and writers, there is a place made up of such what ifs — fan fiction. Although fan fiction today is filled with tales of vampires and wizards, the practice of writing new stories featuring familiar characters predates them as well as copyright laws. The term was coined in 1939 but is believed to have existed centuries before... The fan-fiction world is a space uniquely dominated by women, LGBTQ people, people of color and individuals for whom those identities overlap. They say that the publishing world is dominated by white, heterosexual, able-bodied and cisgendered people. “There’s next to no good queer representation in media,” Ms. Schmitt, 20, complained. “The reason why fan fic is used to talk about queer representation is because writers start so young and they’re disappointed in not seeing themselves. ... It’s a way of taking control.”"
"The issues at the heart of the Axanar case are complex—in addition to copyright infringement, CBS and Paramount are accusing the Axanar team of profiting from the production by paying themselves salaries, among other things. Abrams, who directed 2009’s Star Trek and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, promised during a fan event back in May that the lawsuit would be going away at the behest of Justin Lin, the Beyond director who has sided, surprisingly, with Axanar over Paramount. But despite Abrams’ promise, the lawsuit rages on, and in the meantime, other Trekkie filmmakers have had to adapt. Federation Rising, the planned sequel to Horizon, pulled the plug before fundraising had even started, and Star Trek: Renegades, the follow-up to Of Gods and Men that raised more than $132,000 on Indiegogo, has dropped all elements of Star Trek from the production and is now just called Renegades. (Amusingly, this transition seems to have involved only slight tweaks, with the Federation becoming the Confederation, Russ’ character Tuvok becoming Kovok, and so on.) Other projects are stuck in limbo, waiting to hear from CBS whether they can boldly go forth with production—or whether this really does spell the end of the golden age of Star Trek fan films. Axanar may very well have crossed a line, and CBS and Paramount are, of course, entitled to protect their properties. But in the process, they have suffocated, intentionally or otherwise, a robust and long-standing fan-fiction tradition, one that has produced remarkable labors of love like Star Trek Continues, which meticulously recreated the look and feel of the 1960s show, and an hourlong stop-motion film made by a German fan in tribute to Enterprise—a project almost eight years in the making. It’s a tradition that gave us web series like Star Trek: Hidden Frontier, which was exploring same-sex relationships in Star Trek well before the canon was ready to give us a mainstream, openly gay character."
"Dear Star Trek fans, Star Trek fandom is like no other. Your support, enthusiasm and passion are the reasons that Star Trek has flourished for five decades and will continue long into the future. You are the reason the original Star Trek series was rescued and renewed in 1968, and the reason it has endured as an iconic and multi-generational phenomenon that has spawned seven television series and 13 movies. Throughout the years, many of you have expressed your love for the franchise through creative endeavors such as fan films. So today, we want to show our appreciation by bringing fan films back to their roots. The heart of these fan films has always been about expressing one’s love and passion for Star Trek. They have been about fan creativity and sharing unique stories with other fans to show admiration for the TV shows and movies. These films are a labor of love for any fan with desire, imagination and a camera. We want to support this innovation and encourage celebrations of this beloved cultural phenomenon. It is with this perspective in mind that we are introducing a set of guidelines at Star Trek Fan Films. Thank you for your ongoing and steadfast enthusiasm and support, which ensure that Star Trek will continue to inspire generations to come. CBS and Paramount Pictures"
"Paramount Pictures plans to withdraw its controversial lawsuit against a crowdfunded “Star Trek” fan film, a move that will undoubtedly earn the studio goodwill as it prepares to release “Star Trek Beyond” amid the franchise’s 50th-anniversary celebration. The announcement was made Friday by J.J. Abrams during a fan event on the Paramount lot, where the filmmaker said the litigation is “going away” within the next few weeks."
"On Monday, a Los Angeles-based US District Court judge ruled that Axanar Productions, a crowd-funded Star Trek fanfiction production company, would have to face a copyright infringement lawsuit (PDF) from CBS and Paramount, which own the rights to the Star Trek TV and film franchise... "Although the Court declines to address whether Plaintiffs’ Claims will prosper at this time,” the judge wrote, "the Court does find Plaintiffs’ claims will live long enough to survive Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss.” In another blog post, Peters wrote that Axanar Productions is trying to settle with CBS and Paramount "so we can move forward with telling the story of AXANAR in a way that satisfies both the studios and the over ten thousand fans who financially supported our project.”"
"Wolverine and Jean Grey team up against the Sentinels in the premiere episode of the animated web series X-Men: Danger Room Protocols, a fan tribute to the 1990s cartoon and comics. Announced earlier this month, the biweekly project by Joel Furtado is exactly as advertised: Classic X-Men are placed by Professor X into teams of two and put through their paces in the Danger Room.
"The lawsuit, which Hollywood Reporter wrote about, claims the fan film incorporates “innumerable” copyrighted elements of Star Trek, from the Federation starship bridge to the Vulcan and Klingon races."
"Thanks to the "X-Men" cartoon from the 1990s, Apocalypse was introduced to an entire generation of fans as an intimidating figure with a booming voice that stood in contrast to his purple armor and big blue lips. Surprisingly, a lot of the odd details of Apocalypse's design have made their way into the live action version of the character, who Oscar Isaac plays in 2016's "X-Men: Apocalypse." But for many fans, the definitive version of En Sabah Nur exists in the cartoon -- and now there's a trailer for those very fans. YouTube user Phillysteak took the audio track from the first "X-Men: Apocalypse" trailer, which debuted last week, and paired it with scenes from the '90s "X-Men" cartoon."
"Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster ended their creative input in the 1940s; for decades the duo’s main involvement with Superman was lawsuits over rights. Batman’s main creator, Bill Finger, was denied credit from the beginning by artist Bob Kane, and he died in poverty. Not much of a dawn of justice there. At this point, there is no right or wrong version of Superman, or Batman, or Lex Luthor. Batman v Superman is just the latest exercise in corporate fan fiction, remixing bits and pieces of fan fiction based on fan fiction past. The result may be good, or bad, or mediocre, and you can love or hate Jesse Eisenberg’s performance for any number of reasons. But to say he’s not true to Luthor is to pretend that there’s some “true” version of Luthor to begin with – and to create a platonic, real Luthor who exists separately from, and overshadows, the original folks who, intentionally or by accident, came up with the character. Better to just take the upcoming film on its own merits, or lack thereof – and maybe give a nod to Leo Nowak, and his own stumbling lack of fidelity to Lex Luthor past."
"The deeper mythology of Comic-Con is that fans and creators are joined in communion, sharing in the holy work of imagination. The logic of popular culture today suggests that every fan is also an artist. This is literally true in the blossoming fields of fan art and fan fiction, in which devotees of intellectual properties (the ubiquitous San Diego shorthand for books, comics, movies and shows) make their own images and stories involving their favorite characters. Cosplay is a live-action form of fan art, or maybe fan nonfiction, and the owners of the intellectual property rights are careful not to interfere too much. The organizers of Comic-Con, meanwhile, provide encouragement for fans who dream of professionalizing their passions. A smattering of panels offered advice on how to pitch an idea, how to market a product, how to make a living in a crowded marketplace. Social media and digital technology encourage the fantasy that everyone can make stuff and put it out there for everyone else. Or maybe it isn’t a fantasy. The world of popular culture only gets bigger, and as it does it grows more diverse, more inclusive and more confounding."
"Part of the motivation for the Judge's decision, says Molly Van Houweling for the Authors Alliance, was a consideration of what the larger ramifications of extending the copyright on Holmes would have on art in general. Holmes' lasting popularity is a rarity among fictional characters—most fall out of favor within years, not decades. Creating a longer term on copyright for characters would reduce the number of works flowing into the public domain. This, in turn, would make it more difficult or more expensive for future artists to work, since a great deal of art draws on earlier works... Posner's opinion has much to commend, but one area it does not delve into is how the character of Sherlock Holmes—as we know him—is the construct of many authors, artists, and even film-makers. As Authors Alliance co-founder Molly Van Houweling points out, the phrase "elementary, my dear Watson," never appears in any of Doyle's works."
