A Priceless Axanar Lawsuit Parody

by SandWyrm

It's just too good not to share.

Legal Briefs are Much Better in the Original Klingon (Axanar Update)

By CaulynDarr

doink, doink

Paramount thinks they own the Klingon Language.  The Language Creation Society begs to differ. They have enlisted the help of First Amendment bad-ass Mark Randazza.

Rogue One Trailer

By CaulynDarr

I have few words.  Mostly just wow, wow, wow, freaking, and awesome.  Is it December yet?  

Batman vs Superman, Seriously Guys, It's Not That Bad

By CaulynDarr

I mean, yeah, it's kind of a mess.  But is is it Green Lantern levels of awfulness?  Despite what the meta scores are saying; it's more solid than the critics would have you think.

Is Trek a Dying Enterprise? (UPDATED)

by SandWyrm

With the recent brouhaha over Axanar, I got to wondering how the Trek franchise is actually doing from a financial standpoint. I mean... The 2009 reboot supposedly revitalized the franchise in a big way, right? Or is the truth, after looking at the historical budgets and gross returns, more disturbing?

Axanar: Round 2, FIGHT! (UPDATED)

by SandWyrm

Anyone remember this classic 1992 3DO/PC game? Clearly infringing!

In our last episode, CBS/Paramount had decided to sue Axanar Productions over their clearly infringing (to some extent) fan-kickstarted movie project to tell a story about a Trek-Universe battle that was mentioned once in passing by Captain Kirk during TOS. Even though there are over a dozen OTHER fan projects out there, from movies to episodic series, that infringe on Trek copyrights and trademarks at least as much, if not more than Axanar does.

But then Axanar countered with the assertions that CBS/Paramount's lawsuit wasn't specific enough in its claims (which it wasn't), that the ownership of certain IP elements is uncertain due to the split of CBS from Viacom (which owns Paramount), and that they can't be sued for an infringing work that they haven't even completed, much less published yet. Fair Enough.

Well, CBS/Paramount has pressed on, and has filed an amended lawsuit (thanks to David Heagney Jr. for the link) that includes much more specific copyright claims. While at least a third of them seem reasonable enough, most wander into GW vs. Chapterhouse territory by ridiculously claiming ownership of ideas, instead of specific expressions of those ideas.

Let's take a look at a selection of CBS/Paramount claims, and talk about what is, and is not defensible under copyright.

Star Trek: Axanar Fan-Film Sued?

by SandWyrm

I'm not sure how I missed this happening over a month ago, but it seems that CBS and Paramount have decided to sue Axanar Productions for the Star Trek: Axanar fan film they've been producing.

"The Axanar Works infringe Plaintiffs’ works by using innumerable copyrighted elements of Star Trek, including its settings, characters, species, and themes," states the complaint.

Well, yeah. Duh. We all knew that. But there's a problem for CBS/Paramount, because they've allowed a legal gray area to form around these fan productions for some time.

Team Yankee Russian T-72s and More

By CaulynDarr

I finished painting up my first batch of T-72.  I thought I'd show off some of the new Team Yankee models.  Sorry the pictures are a little dark.  I got a new camera for Christmas, and I'm still figuring out the settings.

Napoleon Versus Gandalf Versus Math (or Why Games Workshop Keeps Failing)

By CaulynDarr

Short Dead Dude

Sandwyrm and I have been using the Nottingham Style as short hand for everything we don't like coming out of, well, the game designers in Nottingham.  After Sandwyrm's recent critique of Gates of Antares and a run through of my copy of Warmaster: Ancients. I think I've finally quantified what it is about these game systems that often leave me unsatisfied.  And it all has to do with History.

GW Financials: Half-Year 2015

by SandWyrm

Still Treading Water

Well it's that time of year again. GW's half-year financials are out, and as usual it's a somewhat boring decline.