*Drums fingers*

Long story short, CBS and Trek fan projects are the very model of how media corporations and fandom should co-exist. Roddenberry, if what I've heard is true, set up the copyright on Star Trek so that if a work wasn't for-profit, it didn't require special permission. Hence the copious amounts of Spock/Kirk erotic fiction in fanzines.

But these Axanar people? Yeah, they crossed the line.

: Could a fan based production step over the line? Say it raised hundreds of
: thousands to make it? I suppose, for legal reasons, it would be hard for
: you to comment.

Make a fanfilm with your own money, and you do all the acting? Just peachy.
Make a fanfilm and buying professional props? If you can afford it, go for it.
Make a fanfilm and hiring actors, paying the salary out of your own profit? If you can afford it, go for it.
Make a fanfilm with crowdsourced money, and you use all that money to buy props and hire actors? That's getting a little close to dangerous waters.
Make a fanfilm with crowdsourced money, and use that money to build capital improvements onto your studio that will be used for future non-Trek projects? That crosses the line.

The Axanar project did the last one. And then they tried to sell merchandise thinly disguised as "Retroactive fundraising" or something. Oh, and then there was the Axanar Coffee they tried to sell. It's almost like they were trying to get sued.

Tony Todd left the project because it was shady, and they advertised another actor who didn't agree to appear.

: From their preview video it looks like the Axanar guys are making something
: that puts a lot of official Star Trek to shame so maybe that's what's
: making CBS sweat.

I think there was also something about Axanar using Abrams-Trek designs, which are not covered by Roddenberry's copyright or something.

: But if I was in charge of a franchise and fans made something substantially
: better than my own team then I'd just hire them. ;-)

Consult your lawyers before you do that. IP laws are vague and capricious and designed to screw someone. Make sure that someone ain't you.

: I am NOT saying that the Halo mods you highlighted blow official Halo stuff
: away (I haven't seen them). I suspect that they wont. They are a different
: genre. But, I bet having that stuff in their portfolio would be a big plus
: when looking for work after college.

Ok, Axanar stuff aside, Microsoft has a horrible reputation with Halo mods. Halo: Homefront and Sins of the Prophets have been in development for the better part of a decade, and they've done just fine. But there was an RTS mod that predated them, a C&C: Generals mod called Halogen. The dev team was gearing up for their first release when they got a C&D letter from Microsoft. A few weeks later, Halo Wars was announced.

So, Microsoft shut down this project because it sorta might compete with one of the official games. The mod survived, the dev team renamed it and removed all the Halo art and released it. But the stigma remained. When I tried to get a mod for Company of Heroes going, even though I could point to mods like Homefront and SPV3, the general reaction from experienced modders was "I'd love to work on a Halo RTS, but Microsoft is going to shut that down in a heartbeat."