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CBS Shuts Down Stage 9, a Fan-Made Recreation of the USS Enterprise (torrentfreak.com)
An anonymous reader writes: For those unfamiliar with the project, Stage 9 is a beautiful virtual recreation of the Enterprise ship from Star Trek: The Next Generation for Windows, Mac and Linux. More experience than game, Stage 9 was built by fans over two years in the Unreal Engine. "There were two things that we were always pretty careful with," says project leader 'Scragnog'. "We made it as clear as we possibly could that this was NOT an officially licensed project. We had no affiliation with CBS or Paramount and the IP we were trying our hardest to treat with respect was not our own. We were fans, just creating fan art."
In an announcement this week, Scragnog reminded fans that no one involved in the project was in it for any financial reason and everyone was well aware that throwing money into the mix could be a problem. However, the team says it has always known that they could be shut down at any time on the whim of a license holder because in this world, that's what can happen. Unfortunately, that day has come all too soon for the impressive project. Stage 9 was hit with an intellectual property complaint from CBS just over two weeks ago and has now been shut down.
"This letter was a cease-and-desist order," Scragnog explains. "Over the next 13 days we did everything we possibly could to open up a dialog with CBS. The member of the CBS legal team that issued the order went on holiday for a week immediately after sending the letter through, which slowed things down considerably."
In an announcement this week, Scragnog reminded fans that no one involved in the project was in it for any financial reason and everyone was well aware that throwing money into the mix could be a problem. However, the team says it has always known that they could be shut down at any time on the whim of a license holder because in this world, that's what can happen. Unfortunately, that day has come all too soon for the impressive project. Stage 9 was hit with an intellectual property complaint from CBS just over two weeks ago and has now been shut down.
"This letter was a cease-and-desist order," Scragnog explains. "Over the next 13 days we did everything we possibly could to open up a dialog with CBS. The member of the CBS legal team that issued the order went on holiday for a week immediately after sending the letter through, which slowed things down considerably."
They've also shut down my desire to continue to watch Star Trek. Maybe I'll see what Picard is up to via the bay, though.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
When will media companies figure out that fan projects are good for them? They maintain/increase interest in an IP, even when the media company is being sloppy and putting out no/terrible content.
Say what you want about Lucas, he was usually pretty cool with people doing Star Wars parodies and homages. He even voiced himself on the Robot Chicken Star Wars episode.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
I would be happy to pay for media with no advertising.
But I refuse to pay you to sell to me.
They don't HAVE to shut everything down.
They could just GIVE STAGE 9 A CONTRACT TO SIGN, stating that they will continue to be noncommercial and that CBS owns all the rights.
So long as Stage 9 is authorized, then there is no issue with them suing other, unauthorized, people who rip them off.
/s I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you that Corporations hold culture hostage!
There is something wrong when companies see fans as competition instead of free advertising.
>"This letter was a cease-and-desist order,"
Most of these letters have ZERO legal weight, and get thrown-out when submitted to courts. While CBS owns the appearance of the TNG Enterprise, the law clearly allows derivative works (such as parodies and fan-inspired art).
Only a JUDGE has the power to shutdown this endeavor, not some Intern at CBS writing cut-and-paste form letters.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
You don't want to contact the legal team; they're job is to secure everything they can for their client, regardless of whether it is reasonable or even legally justifiable. In their world view there's no reason to ever back down from a C&D letter unless that letter is somehow itself illegal, and it's not illegal to exaggerate your rights.
The people you want to get to are the marketing and PR types, who are more concerned about the court of public opinion.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
https://audienceservices.cbs.c...
You aren't missing anything with STD. It's crap.
The Orville is the spiritual successor to Star Trek. I originally wrote it off as a dumb Galaxy Quest show but once you get past the first 2 episodes it starts to get good.
otherwise they lose it and "star trek" becomes generalized (such as band-aid, velcro, thermos, dumpster, aspirin, etc.
The trademark to "Aspirin" was not lost due to "generalization" in the US: it, along with the trademark to "Heroin", was lost in the Treaty of Versailles as punishment to Bayer for making chemical weapons for the Germans.
Band-Aid is still a trademark, and I wouln't bet on its lack of enforceability. Velcro is still a trademark, and they made this hilarious video as part of defending it, and they definitely sue over it.
Loss of trademark due to "genericide" is incredibly rare - I think "thermos" is the only one on your list that is true.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
As pointed out a HN (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18085119), the Internet Archive of the download page still has the well-seeded torrent links...
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:ce1cf2847d8303a8e7e708cb378d9e7ab1534628&dn=Stage9-Mac-v009.zip
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:f2b84daf5a60ad9a452c933523de7ec786bbb0bd&dn=Stage9-Windows-v10.exe
They lose the right to sue people who really rip them off (as opposed to Stage 9) unless they defend their rights across the board. I wish this law was changed.
Care to point out the exact number in title 17 of this non-existent law?
Here, this will get you started: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17
With any luck, while searching for your non-existent law, it will have the side effect that you actually read and learn about what exactly is in copyright law.
In fact I'd like to draw your attention to chapter 1, section 106a, under "E) Transfer and Waiver"
Seems to me the law explicitly allows a waiver of rights, far from disallowing such a thing and forcing a copyright holder to lose any rights by not exercising such a wavier as you claim.
Why would copyright law provide the optional ability to grant a waiver if as you say the law forces a holder to never be allowed to grant a waiver?
And as I'm sure someone will reply such, let me explicitly say, I am not claiming Stage 9 is *entitled* to a wavier, nor is CBS required to even entertain the option.
I only claim the *option* for CBS to do so is right there encoded into law, versus the parent poster claiming such a thing doesn't exist (it's awfully right here for not existing)
Just watch the Orville instead. It's a hundred times better than anything labeled Trek has been in a generation, and more true to the original Trek concepts while actually being entertaining.
And it'd be especially funny to see the Orville outlast Trek proper if CBS keeps up this attitude with its fans.
I have, do, and will watch The Orville, it's a good show even from what little there's been of it so far, and I'm surprised it's on Fox.
Can they reskin their work to be for Star Wreck?
No sig. Move along - nothing to see here.