Date: 04 Jan 1997 18:05:13 -0700
From: J. Michael Straczynski
<71016.1644@compuserve.com>
To: (blocked)
Subject: Paramount STRIKES!!!
This is a most unfortunate development.
But there are some ways you
can try
to deal with this constructively.
Last year, WB became aware of
the existence of many BABYLON 5 sites,
and the Legal Affairs Department
was of a mind to take similar action
(as has
been taken by other shows, including the Simpsons). The reason
for their
desire is simple. It's not that the sites present a *threat* per se,
but there
is the issue of copyright protection at stake.
To explain...and this may help
you to at least understand Paramount's position, even if you don't agree
with it...if copyrighted material begins
to be passed around freely,
and copied, and redistributed, and published,
without the proper protections,
eventually the material will become
*public domain*. The studio
no longer owns it. In order to demonstrate
that you own the material, you
must make consistent, and conscientious efforts to protect your claim to
that name and/or that property.
Many companies and individuals
have actually *lost* the right to the copyright of material they own or
created because they did not take steps
to actively protect it. Which
is why you often see advertisements from companies like Xerox reminding
people that it's a *company name*, and
not a generic term for photocopying.
Otherwise they risk letting that name become a word, part of the vernacular,
and as indefensible as saying
"tissue paper" is a copyrightable
term.
When material from a show is
posted without the proper copyright protection,
every time you allow this to happen it moves that material further and
further into public domain. Once it *becomes* public domain,
the studio will not be able
to profit from it, ownership questions come up,
and outside agencies can produce
anything they want, slap that name on it, and sell it. It's a cumulative
effect, over time. And it *is* a real problem;
don't delude yourself by saying
so because you *want* it not to be so.
The law is the law is the law.
When this came to our attention,
we (acting sort of as fan advocates) sat
down with WB legal and discussed
ways of doing it short of sending out
these exact sort of letters
to BABYLON 5 sites. What we came to was the following understanding: that
WB would not actively go after sites which
used B5 photos and other material
PROVIDED THAT the proper copyright information was appended to the material
utilized. They are currently in
the process of verifying and
evaluating sites before sending letters telling
them to append this information.
This seems to me a fair and reasonable
response to what is, intruth, a
genuine concern. What may help
here is for system operators of web sites
to append the copyright information,
and notify Paramount that they are
in full and complete compliance
with copyright, and acknowledge formally that Paramount is the owner of
all copyrighted material posted on that site. They may, or may not, accept
that, but it gives you a place to start.
Obviously, magazines use copyrighted images all the time, and Paramount makes no effort to stop that...but if you look in the edges along photos and the like in these agazines, you will see the words "photo copyright (c) 1997 Paramount Television.;"
That is the difference that allows
them to use this material. There is no immediate reason why sites should
be viewed in any way differently than
a magazine, IF the laws are
followed.
(Interestingly, there's a debate
in the TV community about the copyright
of the original ST being in
some dispute, since for about 10 years Paramount did little to protect
the name of the original ST, until the first movie came around. I have
no actual information on that, however, nor can I comment beyond just remarking
on the topic. If there *is* any merit to it, that might further explain
their reasonable concern about it happening with current material.) So
point is...the concern expressed by Paramount is legitimate,
and you should abide by it,
OR see if you can find some compromise
position by adhering strictly
to the copyright laws in how material is displayed, and what material is
selected, as we have done with the B5 sites. You may also want to write
to those currently running the ST franchise to
see if the producers of the
show can intercede on the behalf of ST fans as
we did for B5 fans. Lawyers
have little or no vested interest in the fan/show relationship; those involved
directly in these shows, do have a vested interest.
Usual disclaimer: I am not an attorney, and can only speak from anecdotal information, and have no specific information about Paramount, and am in no way suggesting any difference of opinion with their actions.
I'm only trying to help you understand the issues involved.
jms
