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An open letter to JMS re: the unproduced scripts

P

preacher

Member
This is a portion of an email from JMS that was circulated through the Zocalo newsletter.


>>a request...I keep seeing posts from people who are freely exchanging textfiles ontaining the Crusade scripts that were posted on bookface.com. To those folks, the rest of you can move on...I don't think you've stopped to realize that what you're passing around so freely is my property. It's not taking from WB, or TNT, it's taking from *me*. I own the scripts that I write, under the Writers Guild Separation of Rights provision. I allowed Bookface to put them up because they gave me assurances that they could not easily or well be pirated. (They clearly did not anticipate the ingenuity of some folks.) You are infringing on my rights, my copyright, my ownership, and causing me to regret my decision to let folks see them, such that I may never do this again because it greatly reduces my ability to ever sell them or publish them in book form in future. You have, in effect, stolen my property and are
freely distributing same. That it's not available elsewhere is not the issue; we all want things we can't have, or which are not
currently available. I'm asking you politely, as the guy who *made* this show and *wrote* those scripts (and *owns* those scripts) for
you to stop. If it doesn't stop, I'm going to have to start taking action against those doing this. <<<

We have angered 'god' and i for one have been suitably chasitized. You have my apologies, sir, and I will no longer be circulating the scripts or stories. I ask that the half dozen people I sent them to do the same.
I also ask that anyone who has received these scripts make a pledge to themselves to buy 2 copies if and when the short stories and scripts become available in book form (which I would love to see). I will be buying 3 or 4 and giving them away as Christmas presents.
I applaud those of you with the Crusade Bible that refused to be a part of this and not make the Bible available online.

Again, my apologies for my part in this. Let us return to harmony and not allow this to be blood between us.

Preacher_klee@yahoo.com

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"I bring the Hand of God and that is all I bring. I speak for the Hand of God. I am the Preacher"
The Preacher - "Children of Dune"
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>
If it doesn't stop, I'm going to have to start taking action against those doing this.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

And if JMS is busy with lawyers and the like, he won't have time to Write New Stories.
mad.gif


Stop passing around those scripts.
Now.
We Want New Stories.

Maybe even to one day see those Scripts Filmed. If he's POed enough, he just might trash them even if Crusade is revived.



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Yes, I like cats too.
Shall we exchange Recipes?
 
I humbly apologise to JMS for gaining a copy of the unproduced scripts from a friend.

Now that I understand how hurtful this has been I feel awful. I will not pass on the scripts to anyone else in respect for JMS' plea for this to stop.


My husband and I would gladly pay for such scripts and any further stories or comics. However, we live in New Zealand (where it's hard to get B5 merchandise) and were a bit late in jumping on the B5 bandwagon, by the time we did the fan club had folded and many things like the crusade bible were no longer available.

We really enjoyed Crusade and did not want it to die, and rewatching it recently made us want to seek out every scrap of things we had missed. Bookface was down and I for one was almost beside myself wanting to read them.

It's a reason but certainly no excuse. We should have waited.

And I submit that should JMS decide to publish them in the future that we will definitely buy several copies to atone for our part in his anguish.




[This message has been edited by Zoriah (edited June 30, 2001).]
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by preacher:
it greatly reduces my ability to ever sell them or publish them in book form in future. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If they were in book form, I would buy them, even though I've read the scripts.

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2466614
"Gideon says we all have things to hide."
"Does he? How unfortunate, I was hoping he'd come further than that. Well not that it isn't true of course, it's just that one simply doesn't have to say it."
 
I'd prefer they be filmed and broadcast
smile.gif


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"You know I… I rather like this GOD fellow. He's very theatrical you know, a pestilence here, a plague there... Omnipotence, Got to get me some of that, Hmmm?" - Stewie (Family Guy)
 
Their rarity creates the demand for them. I know having no official means of reading them is no excuse, but people just want to read more about Crusade. I received the files, but didn't think for one minute they were restricted. I'd heard they freely available on Bookface (now gone it seems) and when I received the material, I was happy.

I think most people will stop distributing them, and it's now the official policy on this board that they won't be distributed here(see here). JMS has a loyal following, and most will respect his wishes.

I think mentioning legal action seems to be scare tactics. If people don't know better, it's not very fair to scare them. I know, again, ignorance should not be an excuse. But I think, hopefully, everyone will just follow his wishes, as he is JMS!




------------------
Dreg: "Most beauteous and supremely magnificent one, this dark spell I hold in my worthless and scabby hand is our gift to you, most tingly and wonderful Glorificus..."
Glory: "Please, call me Glory. And get up, looking at you is hurting my neck."
Dreg: "Forgive me, shiny special one. I beg of you to rip out my inadequate tongue."
Glory: "Gimme."
 
That's the thing that's pleased me most about this thing, JMS has simply said "look guys, I don't like it. Please stop." and he expects it to be effective.
There are too many incidences of Cease & Desist notices being the first that fans have heard of copyright transgressions. I know of one fan site that called it a day when they were treated with such a heavy hand, I wouldn't be surprised to learn there were others.

I feel proud to be part of a community where courteous requests are considered enough.

smile.gif


--------------
"Alert Alert. A Choccy Nut bar, a Choccy Nut bar has been removed without payment!" - Red Dwarf


[This message has been edited by SwiftBiscuit (edited July 01, 2001).]
 
I know I won't be passing any more. I figured the same as Antony.

------------------
Bus
"Authorities say the phony pope can be recognized by his high-top sneakers and increadibly foul mouth." Kent Brockman
 
Must... obey... JMS...

I... I can't fight it! JMS is too strong!

------------------
Sheridan: Are you trying to cheer me up?
Ivanova: No sir, wouldn't dream of it.
Sheridan: Good, I hate being cheered up. It's depressing.
Ivanova: So in that case we're all going to die horrible, painful, lingering deaths.
Sheridan: Thank you, I feel so much better now.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> I think mentioning legal action seems to be scare tactics. If people don't know better, it's not very fair to scare them. I know, again, ignorance should not be an excuse. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Antony, I don't think JMS is using a scare tactic. He's just telling us what his Lawyers have told him is Necessary.

One of the tricky parts of copyright Law is that, if you don't Defend your copyright, you Lose it. JMS has NO Choice in this matter. If he doesn't put a stop to this activity, he Will Lose His Rights to his own work.

Since it's how he makes a Living, you can see that he has actually acted with admirable kindness.

You want to see somone Vigorously defend a Copyright? Go to Disney wearing a T-Shirt that Makes Fun of the Rat. You'll soon learn why some who have had experience in the matter refer to Disney's Security/Legal team as the "Moustappo".
shocked.gif


------------------
Yes, I like cats too.
Shall we exchange Recipes?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Babylon-ocholic:
I would buy 50 copies of any books he published just to make amens.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

"Amends" I think you mean. Or I hope you mean. I'm an ex-Catholic. No "amens"
please.

------------------
"Why not? Only 1 Human captain has ever survived battle with the Minbari fleet. He is behind me, you are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else."

[This message has been edited by hypatia (edited July 01, 2001).]
 
Here's another important request from JMS, copied by DDC2000 from the same discussion & posted on the ISN News website.

DDC2000.

From a recent JMS post on Usenet:


quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9) Folks have emailed to ask if I'm still lurking on the
scifi.com/babylon5
board because I haven't said anything there in a while...the answer is
no,
because fan fiction began to show up, and where it is, I can't be. I do
find
this kind of awkward, because it's the one thing I've ever asked from
fans: if
you know I'm in X location, however infrequently, please keep fanfic
away from
where I can see it, especially since I'm telling new stories now in the
B5
universe and don't want to imperil myself legally by being exposed to
fanfic.
There are plenty of sites where that stuff is available.



------------------
When you see what you want, don ' t be afraid -- all love is not unrequited.

Marcus lives!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by bakana:

One of the tricky parts of copyright Law is that, if you don't Defend your copyright, you Lose it. JMS has NO Choice in this matter. If he doesn't put a stop to this activity, he Will Lose His Rights to his own work.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Incorrect. Of the three types of IP (copyright, trademark, patent), only the trademark must be defended. In fact, something that's copyrightable can be distributed freely as long as the person holding the copyright is the one allowing it to happen.

That said, it's a lot harder to distribute copyrighted material for profit once it has been freely distributed due to the the economics of supply and demand (consider mp3s or pirate DVDs as a similar example of theft of copyrighted works (Napster/DeCSS cases)).


------------------


[This message has been edited by nolesrule (edited July 05, 2001).]
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> as long as the person holding the copyright is the one allowing it to happen.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That one line contradicts the rest of your post. It says that JMS Must protect his copyright.




------------------
Yes, I like cats too.
Shall we exchange Recipes?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>That one line contradicts the rest of your post. It says that JMS Must protect his copyright.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not necessarily. First, as noted, there is no requirement to positively defend a copyright. That applies to trademark law, and perhaps to patent law, but not to copyright. (And the B5 trademarks are the property of Warner Bros., not JMS. He only owns copyright - for purposes of publication - to his own scripts.)

But even if there were an affirmative requirement for copyright defense JMS could allow people to reproduce his work, in whole or in part, by giving them his express written permission. If I had a website where I wanted to post "Severed Dreams" as an example of the screenwriter's art, I could ask JMS for a letter authorizing me to do so. If he agreed I would have to post a notice indicating that the work was copyrighted by JMS and "reprinted" with permission. Same deal with using the B5 logo or other Warner Bros. trademarks. If I have a letter from WB saying I can, and post the appropriate trademark indicia, there is no problem.

For more on copyright see:

www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
 
Exactly. You must have explicit permission from the copyright holder prior to doing whatever you do with the copyrighted material.

Fair use is a different story, which doesn't apply to this situation at all.


------------------
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> But even if there were an affirmative requirement for copyright defense JMS could allow people to reproduce his work, in whole or in part, by giving them his express written permission. If I had a website where I wanted to post "Severed Dreams" as an example of the screenwriter's art, I could ask JMS for a letter authorizing me to do so. If he agreed I would have to post a notice indicating that the work was copyrighted by JMS and "reprinted" with permission.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

But, that is exactly what WAS done on Bookface. That's where I read them It was clearly stated that the scripts were readable Only online and they were Not downloadable.

I believe you, yourself, posted that the scripts being passed around were copied from the site By Hand.




------------------
Yes, I like cats too.
Shall we exchange Recipes?
 
I think we're now talking about two different things here.

nolesrule posted a message saying that copyright must be defended (which was an error) and that copyrighted material can be distributed with permission.

You said the two statements were contradictory. I disagreed. Even if there were an affirmative requirement to defend a copyright against unauthorized use, that wouldn't apply, by definition, to already authorized use. Therefore there was no contradiction in nolesrule's post.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>But, that is exactly what WAS done on Bookface. That's where I read them It was clearly stated that the scripts were readable Only online and they were Not downloadable.

I believe you, yourself, posted that the scripts being passed around were copied from the site By Hand.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

To which I can only respond, "yes" and "yes." I don't understand what you think we're disagreeing about here.

Bookface was authorized to carry the scripts (and short stories), they disabled print and copy-and-paste features to prevent anyone from doing any more than reading the material on-line. They posted a notice to that the material was not to be saved, printed or otherwise reproduced.

Some people circumvented the safe-guards by going to the incredible trouble of hand-typing the scripts. In doing so they violated their Bookface member agreement and JMS's copyright.

The people who did this and distributed the scripts did not have JMS's permission to do so, which made what they did illegal under current copyright law and would still have made it illegal if copyright worked like trademark law and required that it be actively defended.

BTW, the Disney "Mousetapo" are mostly concerned about trademark violations. The Rat himself, and most of the other characters, are registered trademarks as well as being copyrighted works of fiction. Since trademarks don't automatically expire and trademarked items don't pass into the public domain this affords Disney additional protection for its characters. When the copyright on some of the early animated films expires they will still be protected by the trademarks on the character in them, which will prevent other folks from commercially exploiting them.

That's why the Mousetapo has been willing to put up with the bad publicity in going after church daycare centers and the like that paint Disney characters on the sides of their buildings. They don't have a choice. If they ignore those violations they weaken the case against the pirates and risk losing trademarks worth billions over time.

Regards,

Joe

------------------
Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net
 
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