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Re: NEWS: Paramount is Shutting Down Trek Websites!!!
Actually, _Star Trek_ fandom is in a fairly good position to defend
_Trek_ fanac, if nobody screws up.
Roddenberry did indeed regard fanac as free advertising. He and other
members of his team participated in it: granting interviews and
corresponding with faneds, corresponding with club officers, guesting at
cons and so forth. If Paramount slaps the _Star Trek_ label on, it falls
under Roddenberry's precedent.
But this only holds for fan-produced material. You can post your own
fanfic, but not a transcript of an episode. You can decorate your web
site with fan-drawn illos, but not with pictures pirated from Paramount.
There was an example of the difference over in _X-Files_ online
recently: a couple of fanfic sites decorated with pirated graphics. Fox
made them pull the graphics, but didn't disturb the fanfic. If the
shut down _Trek_ websites were shut down because they offered nothing but
pirated graphics, Paramount was entirely within its rights.
It could be quite a spectacle. Or it could be a complete fiasco.
We'll see.
--
Lee Burwasser lburwasser@crs.loc.gov
Landover MD USA
*working stiff -- don't blame me for policy*
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