Paramount Pictures Corporation
5555 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
December 17, 1996
Gentlemen:
Your recent shutdown of a popular Star Trek website (www.stuniverse.com) was undoubtable within your legal rights. However, simply because an action is legal does not necessarily mean that it is beneficial. Your legal department may fume over sites that use Star Trek material without permission, but the fans that construct and visit these sites are your customers: we are the ones who faithfully watch the shows (and the advertisements), pay to see the feature films, purchase the videotapes and laserdisks, collect the novels, and buy the toys for ourselves and our kids. I've been a Star Trek fan since 1969 and my collection of things Trek is something to see. You've made and will continue to make quite a bit of money on me, and I don't begrudge you a dime of it. My son plays with Mr. Data and Captain Pickard, not the latest Saturday-morning animated hero; my daughter adores Captain Janeway and commands her own starship with Star Trek Barbie and Ken. They represent the next generation of Trekkers -- and they love to surf the web looking for Star Trek pages (both ours and others). In my opinion, the popularity of Star Trek on the web serves to amplify the popularity of Star Trek in the marketplace. I hope that you will reconsider your position and accept that this popularity (and the inevitable copyright violations and trademark abuses that accompany it) goes hand in hand with the success of the Star Trek franchise. Let the fans continue to celebrate the Star Trek universe on the web and make Star Trek a success into the 21st century and beyond!
Respectfully,
John Goulden
jgoulden@flash.net