"Though the suit was derided by some fans, The Hollywood Reporter noted that the studios were using it to signal that they would no longer tolerate professional-quality derivatives of its movies and television series."

I would be very interested in finding out how they intend to define "professional-quality". Particularly these days.

Would you not quickly end up needing to "sabotage" your output in order to skirt the rules of such a definition, in what amounts to a strange new dogma format?

> I would be very interested in finding out how they intend to define "professional-quality"

They tried to: http://www.startrek.com/fan-films

Thanks! It seems that the key here is "creators, actors and all other participants must be amateurs".

So can you ever ship two Star Trek fan productions? Or does the first production render you sufficiently experienced to no longer qualify as an amateur? ;)

Could definitely have hoped for a more useful settlement. Like requiring that Axanar be monetised and all proceeds go to Paramount - without imposing any creative or production limitations.

The need to send a clear message about their strategy and relationship with fan fiction going forward makes sense, but surely there's a useful compromise to be found which would also increase the value of their IP?

It’s kind of sad that companies spend so much time squashing ants. Instead of seeing an opportunity to encourage more excellent film-making, and allowing talented people to keep improving their skills and one day produce even more awesome projects, all they see is a chance to go to court.