1. Axanar YouTube Channel Rises from the Dead After Claim it was Hacked

• Termination is normally permanent, and it’s the rare channel that survives being shut down, particularly for the reasons given for Axanar’s termination: spam, deceptive practices and misleading content.
• Hacked. Peters claimed over the weekend that his gmail account connected with the YouTube channel had been hacked and used to spam emails, and that this was behind the termination. He said on last night’s “Trek After Dark” livestream that it took days and a $200 legal consultation to finally reach human beings at YouTube and submit proof of the hacking in order to rectify the situation.

• $200 an hour. Given his wasted appeal, Peters said Corzine advised him to:
  • Keep replying via email with the person at YouTube anyway, to keep some line of communication open.
  • Open a second YouTube channel and use that channel to keeping contacting YouTube.
  • Reach out via social media to YouTube, such as through Twitter and Reddit.

• Posting the same content repeatedly across one or more channels.
• Placing excessive tags in the video description (“tag stuffing”) rather than placing them as tags upon upload. Peters does this regularly in the body of his posts’ descriptions.
• Using tags to trick users into believing the content is something it is not.

2. Peters, Surrogates Lash Out at Ex-Director Jenkins

3. Can Paul Jenkins’ Copyright Claims Over Axanar Screenplay and Footage Really Stop Production?

• Will it? Not according to Peters, who told Fan Film Factor: “Paul’s comments on copyright are total fiction. A director has no rights in a film he directs. Also, a co-writer (assuming Paul could prove that he in fact was a co-writer in fact, not just in title) cannot dictate what the other co-writer does with the work. Paul has zero ability to tell us what to do.”
• Joint authorship. This principle is well-trodden in copyright law, and it appears to favor Peters’ position. Now that Jenkins has departed, Peters has begun to minimize the director’s contribution to the Axanar screenplay, saying he merely made edits to Peters’ script. But Peters has repeatedly referred to Jenkins as co-writer and praised the writer’s contribution to the script, so it’s likely the co-writer designation is accurate. Under copyright law, Peters and Jenkins would be equal co-owners of the Axanar script.
• No contract. Peters admits he and Jenkins never signed a formal agreement regarding authorship of the screenplay. Absent such an agreement, Peters cannot claim Jenkins contribution was a work for hire. According to FindLaw:

• The co-authors own an equal share in the work, regardless of whether one contributed more to the work than the other.
• Any co-author can create a derivative work, or license a third party to do so, without the permission of the other authors.
• However, one cannot grant exclusive rights to the work to a third party without the prior consent of the other.
• Each co-author must account to the other any profits obtained from the exploitation of the work.
• Each co-author is entitled to equal authorship credit for the work upon production.

• Sharing proceeds. Jenkins is entitled only to half the proceeds of the film. Of course, as a fan film, Axanar is not supposed to earn revenue. But Peters is generating revenue with his broad range of Axanar-related merchandise, which could also be considered derivative works.
• Irony. Another interesting point is that as a co-author, Jenkins is entitled to an accounting of Axanar’s finances in order to determine whether he is owed any money. Ironically, Peters refusing to share financial information with Jenkins was one of the problems leading to their split.

4. Peters Still Intends to Bring Lawsuit Against Ex-Axanar Director Robert Meyer Burnett in California