An Open Letter to
Star Trek Fans
From David
Wertheimer, President of Paramount Digital Entertainment
David Wertheimer
President
Dear Star Trek fan,
Recently, many of
you have expressed concerns about a small number of letters Paramount sent to Webmasters
who were in significant violation of Star Trek copyrights on the Web - a
step taken to protect Star Trek copyrights and properties, which are of
great value to us. Some of you have fundamental disagreements with this action, many of
you have expressed concern, and others may have misunderstood what is being done. So we'd
like to explain clearly and plainly what is going on and why; and perhaps more important,
what is not going on and why.
- We understand fans' desire to
communicate and share information about Star Trek and we support
fan-created Web sites.
- Paramount has not asked any site
to "shut down"; it has asked Star Trek Webmasters who are either
selling ads or collecting fees, selling illegal merchandise, or posting copyrighted
materials on their sites to refrain from these specific activities.
- We have no plans to write to the
thousands of individuals sites which are not abusing the Star Trek
copyrights.
- To the extent possible, we want to
give Star Trek fans the information and materials they want. To that end,
the official Star Trek site, STAR TREK: CONTINUUM, is available to the web
at large at www.startrek.com.
- In situations where Paramount
feels that it must enforce its copyrights by requesting that material be removed from Web
sites, it acts not only on its own behalf, but also to protect the interests of the
creative community. Paramount works closely with the many talented actors, writers,
directors, musicians, artistic designers, and others who make Star Trek
possible. They expect Paramount to protect the integrity of their creative efforts, as
well as the economic value of those properties on which they depend to make their living.
We look forward to your continued
communications and appreciate your consideration of these issues.
Sincerely,
David Wertheimer
President, Paramount Digital Entertainment
dwertheimer@pdent.paramount.com
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