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THR

Paramount and CBS Sue Producers Behind ‘Star Trek’ Film

Dec 30, 2015  •  Post A Comment

An indie “Star Trek” film has been hit with a lawsuit by Paramount and CBS. The Hollywood Reporter’s THR, Esq., reports that the companies hit the producers of the crowdfunded prequel “Axanar” with a suit alleging violation of their intellectual property.

“For decades, Paramount and CBS have tolerated and even encouraged fans of the ‘Star Trek’ franchise to use their imagination at will, but on Tuesday the entertainment companies went to their battle stations and launched a legal missile at a production company touting the first independent ‘Star Trek’ film,” the story reports.

The project has reportedly generated more than $1 million via crowdfunding on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The complaint is quoted in the report stating: “The Axanar Works infringe Plaintiffs’ works by using innumerable copyrighted elements of Star Trek, including its settings, characters, species, and themes.”

THR adds: “Paramount and CBS, represented by attorneys at Loeb & Loeb, are now demanding an injunction as well as damages for direct, contributory and vicarious copyright infringement.”

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3 Comments

  1. I’ve been following the Axanar project since it’s publicly announced inception some time ago, and have two questions (that I already know the answers to) about all this.

    1) Didn’t the Axanar producers and Paramount/CBS work out the copyright issues?
    According to the Axanar producers, yes. Most of the people connected to Axanar are actors and behind-the-scenes, TV/movie professionals that have worked on various series and movies, Star Trek included. It would be very surprising if most of those involved hadn’t vetted this issue before getting involved.

    2) What took Paramount and CBS so long?
    Who really knows? The Axanar project has been going on for about two years, but I’ll take a wild guess that it’s a five letter word, that starts with the letter M, is green, and comes in different denominations.

    Unless the Axanar people have been deceptive about something, there is no way this is going to become anything other than a tremendous PR black eye for Paramount and CBS with loyal Star Trek fans.

    I was about to throw some monetary support behind the Axanar project, but now I won’t because it’s obvious Paramount and CBS have killed it.

    Just more reasons to despise the entertainment industry… or at least two factions of it

    • YOU SHOW LES SOME RESPECT

  2. Copyrights require constant monitoring. Because Paramount has been so loose, it will be more difficult to win a suit, but John is right that this is just about money. Paramount will use theirs to either shut it down with the weight of their lawyers or they will get a majority interest in the final production.

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