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A comment on “Star Trek Continues”: Fan-made episodes carry on the five-year mission. Parent comment

Re:“Star Trek Continues”: Fan-made episodes carry on the fiv... by 3JPLW on Friday June 07, 2013 @11:07AM (#5839310) 

    © Copyright 2012 Farragut Films, Dracogen Strategic Investments 
    and Vic Mignogna
    
    Star Trek®, Star Trek: The Next Generation®, 
    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine®, Star Trek: Voyager®, Star Trek 
    Enterprise® and all associated marks and characters are registered 
    trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All rights reserved. The use of 
    anything related to "Star Trek" on any of these web sites is not 
    meant to be an infringement on CBS Studios Inc. property rights 
    to "Star Trek."
It's just like the standard youtube uploaders' disclaimer - "no copyright infringement intended." I wonder where this started... why do so many people believe copyright infringement is only wrong or enforceable if you really meant to steal it?
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Re:“Star Trek Continues”: Fan-made episodes carry on the fiv... by Cushman on Friday June 07, 2013 @11:10AM (#5839331)
It makes sense if you realize those statements are (obviously) not written by lawyers to prevent legal challenges, but by Internet users to prevent annoying comments by other Internet users.

Although for what it's worth intentional copyright infringement is legally worse.

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Re:“Star Trek Continues”: Fan-made episodes carry on the fiv... by Dylan16807 on Friday June 07, 2013 @11:54AM (#5839627)
Read it again. It's no trademark infringement intended, here is a list of trademarks and who owns them. That is a valid thing to do; consumers can't get confused about mark ownership if you explicitly tell them you're only using the mark as a description and you are not official.
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Re:“Star Trek Continues”: Fan-made episodes carry on the fiv... by gamblor956 on Friday June 07, 2013 @12:24PM (#5839823)
Because it's not copyright infringement. Copyright applies to the content (i.e., DVDs, videos, or even simply clips of larger videos). Fanfiction is not (usually) copyright infringement because ideas can't be copyrighted, only the distinct expression of the idea can. (Without going down the rabbit hole, Captain Kirk is an idea, his portrayal in any particular tv show or movie would be the expression of that idea).

The video is disclaiming trademark infringement, which is not a crime.

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Re:“Star Trek Continues”: Fan-made episodes carry on the fiv... by sp332 on Friday June 07, 2013 @11:46AM (#5839573)
Because mens rea is required for a criminal (felony) copyright infringement. A civil case could still be brought for damages, but a federal prosecutor has to prove the violator did it intentionally. http://books.google.com/books?id=Mw5a7mL8XYAC&lpg=PA1183&ots...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mens_rea

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Re:“Star Trek Continues”: Fan-made episodes carry on the fiv... by gamblor956 on Friday June 07, 2013 @12:27PM (#5839838)
The very fact of deliberately making copies for financial gain is mens rea enough for copyright infringement. However, that is irrelevant here, since the issue is not copyright infringement but trademark infringement.

Paramount has generally ignored (or blessed) fanfiction videos and literature with regards to Star Trek (but the same cannot be said for video games).

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Re:“Star Trek Continues”: Fan-made episodes carry on the fiv... by sp332 on Friday June 07, 2013 @12:31PM (#5839859)
Unless they put ads on the videos, I don't think a YouTube post counts as financial gain.
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