Sci-Fi Fansite Sued

[DanQ]

This makes me go on several fronts...

What does it cost to videotape events at a convention and then offer them online? For the officials of the German convention FedCon, it's $78,000.

FedCon officials reportedly made the demand last week of German Star Trek news site TrekNews.de and its editor-in-chief, Daniel Räbiger. It's claim, according to a post on the TrekNews Web site, is that Räbiger was allowed to film at the most recent FedCon last June in Bonn, Germany, but then violated the agreement by making the video available on the Internet.

(Source: SyFy Portal, http://www.syfyportal.com/news424065.html)

[snoopy369]

I guess if they had an agreement ahead of time, that's just asking for a suit ...

[DanQ]

Originally posted by snoopy369
I guess if they had an agreement ahead of time, that's just asking for a suit ...

Yes, that's one of my 's... why would you violate the agreement. Very stupid.

At this point, I'm most interested in what formula (if any) was applied to determine the exact amount of the lawsuit. Perhaps it's noted in another or story will be in a future one...

[DanQ]

An update

An update (courtesy SyFyPortal) that shows that the issue in question is apparently different than the one first described:

TrekNews.de was one of several accredited media organizations attending FedCon XVI last June in Bonn, Germany, Räbiger said. They had full media access, including their video camera operator who shot some of the panels and other events at the convention.

Soon after Räbiger uploaded the videos to his Web site, he received a letter from a lawyer who represents Rene von Bodisco, the DVD producer from FedCon, claiming that TrekNews.de downloaded his documentary from FedCon XVI off his servers and then sold it on their own. Because of that, Bodisco and FedCon are demanding TrekNews.de pay €58,000, or $78,000 to reimburse them. [..]

SyFy Portal's original report said that based on a rough translation of TrekNews.de, that FedCon was challenging video that the Web site shot at the convention. Räbiger said he wanted to make it clear that the accusation is instead that they had taken video from the documentarian's server and passed it off on their own, which Räbiger denies.