[Kirok]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The fact that authors and publishers are willing to "turn a blind eye" to fan fiction doesn't alter the fact that its legality is, to put it mildly, dubious. Fan Fiction is almost certainly illegal, in that it is a "derived work", and you aren't allowed to create a derived work without the permission of the copyright holder. Whether or not it's done for profit is entirely irrelevent to a discussion of its legality, although is obviously of relevence to whether or not the copyright holder is willing to put up with it.

Would that life were black and white like that instead of all different shades and hues!

Copyright piracy - the exact copying and distribution of professionally produced films, TV series and their licensed merchandise - is a multi-million dollar "cottage-industry" and anyone who knowingly supports it is not a fan they're just a damn fool! In the case of Star Trek, the simple fact of the matter is that the more profit Paramount make from Trek, the more chance there is that they will make more series and movies. Make no bones about it, buying or downloading bootleg movies or TV episodes is theft and it is a major cause of loss of revenue for the studios.

However what we are talking about here is not copyright piracy. Fan productions have been described as a type of unauthorised "derivative work", they are productions that use Trek designs and lore as a jumping off point or a framework for entirely new and original tales. Fan producers freely acknowledge that the trademarks and copyrights that they mention in their works belong to the studio and because of this they make no attempt to profit from their work.

To me, the overriding question when considering the response and relationship between the growing number of fan productions and the copyright owners boils down to - Is this a legal problem or a commercial problem? I mean, are they compelled by law to take a certain course of action or can they respond in a manner that best suits their commercial needs? To put it bluntly: are the lawyers in charge or are the corporate managers?

Let's view this as an ethical question. What is the purpose of the copyright laws? To make money for lawyers? No, I don't think that's the idea. I think it is fair to summarise it as the assertion of the rights of ownership by the professional producers over their works, the characters, designs, scripts, music … etc. These rights of ownership usually mean getting a fair monetary return by the producers and distributors for their investment but it can also include the rights of the creators (scriptwriters, composers etc) to be identified as the authors of their work. This protects against plagiarism and assumes that they should have a certain creative control over the use that others might make of their work. The threat of litigation is the force that the law uses to enforce the owner's rights when they are compromised. However the last I heard, litigation was a last ditch option and NOT mandatory.

Fan production creators as a whole have no problem with any of this. They acknowledge the commercial right of ownership that the copyright owners have and there is no attempt to divert any money away from them. From an artistic standpoint, they not only acknowledge the work of the writers and directors, they venerate them! Remember we are talking about fans here! I see no need for punitive action. It's the old "Golden Rule": Respect - You get what you give. You respect Paramount's commercial need to make a profit from their merchandise and intellectual properties and they will respect the fan production groups right to exist. If one side or the other breaks the gentlemen's agreement that exists then they will loose the respect of the other parties, the balance will be lost and we all loose.

The question is: will this situation, continue? Could Paramount be a sleeping giant who might awaken and destroy it all? I asked this question of Jack Marshal, at that time an Executive Producer of Star Trek: New Voyages, in an interview for Starfleet International's "Communique" back in 2005.

I suppose they could, but why would they? Believe it or not, Paramount is very aware of it's Trek fanbase and the last thing they want to do is have another web crusade like they did in the 90's where they shut people's websites down and alienated the fans. We've had some preliminary talks with them regarding licensing and before that had been in constant contact with Viacom's legal department and know that if we follow the groundwork they've laid for us, we'll be ok. … our success has been a double edged sword. But a danger of getting shut down? I think it's nil as long as we follow the guidelines they've set out for us.

Personally I doubt if any responsible business manager in the entertainment industry would commit financial suicide by alienating their fanbase just before a major movie is about to be put out, just for the sake of making a point. What would they get in restitution? As soon as I get a C&D I will C&D so it will not go to court and even if it did I would willingly give them exactly what I had made from fan productions - not one brass razoo!

I have more respect for the business accumen of the copyright owners and licensees.

K