The proposition comes from Alec Peters' Axanar Productions, which put out on YouTube a 20-minute "mockumentary" titled Prelude to Axanar and was in the midst of pursuing a feature-length version touted as a professional-quality Star Trek fan film before being hit with a copyright lawsuit.
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Ah, my old favorite topic to comment on, intellectual property law suits. To me there seems to be two arguments happening here. On one hand there’s Axanar Productions and their argument that Paramount and CBS don’t own a copyright on the ideas of Star Trek, and another argument (the one from the summary judgement) that even if there was reason for a copyright claim Paramount and CBs shouldn’t make it since they won’t be affected/the work is in the spirit of the Star Trek universe. On the other hand there’s Paramount and CBS who seem to be ignoring a lot of Axanar Production’s arguments and getting right to the heart of the matter. That regardless of the fact that Axanar is working with a minor character, the ideas, universe, and many of the other things (languages, vehicles, etc) that are being used are owned by Paramount and CBS. Personally as much as I like the idea of fan’s being able to make work inspired by the worlds they love I think Paramount is right. As far as I know they technically do own a copyright on Star Trek and what Axanar is trying to make does seem more like a new work in the same universe than a parody. The old ruling about the batmobile being protected by copyright only adds strength to their argument. The fact that Axanar Productions own director even admitted that their work infringed on Star Trek copyright really doesn’t help their case either.
I’m surprised that Paramount and CBS want to pursue this case. I would have thought that fans would have been disillusioned and disappointed by the fact that one of their own had been targeted. Though I see why Paramount and CBS are concerned for their copyright, I would have thought that this would only bring bad publicity. However, the use of a professional crew does change the game from the fan made videos shot on an IPhone camera. However, I think that the part about how Star Trek has a patent on point ears and spaceships is ridiculous. Neither of those are mutually exclusive to the Star Trek franchise and have different meanings in different contexts. I wonder if the Star Trek franchise would have approved this film if they had asked for a license before hand. Though the movie would not have been directly part of the franchise, it could have made money and created hype for future Star Trek Movie.
If the defendants win this case, this is a huge game changer for fan works in general for years to come. I did a comment for this case on another article a couple of weeks ago, but I didn’t really expect that it would be this intense, and depending on this judgement a new grounding for “acceptable” fan work will be laid down. I watched a video from YouTube talking about how the copyright system in video games changed over the years, where it used to be about the look, names and ideas (you can’t copyright an idea like a “superhero goes to save a bus filled with children” because that is a common thing within superhero actions) (bad example sorry), but now it is turning more into mechanics (like how you move within the game). So now they are looking at licensing over characters and negative and positive effects on the original content. I must say that the Plaintiffs’ argument of how the fan work would damage its market is bull. If this movie isn’t actually profiting, meaning that they aren’t charging people to watch it, then no matter how many actors/directors/crew members that have worked on the original also work on the independent film, the fact is this is free promotion. It is GOOD free promotion, because unlike any before, this film will look legit, because professionals that know what they are doing are helping this become big. So more people will watch it, free of charge, and be reminded of the Star Trek they love or even be introduced to it. A lot of times, people who didn’t grow up Star Trek are introduced to it by fan work. If this movie succeeds, you might even see a bigger audience coming to watch Star Trek of new and old. Of course it isn’t without risks, as you do open your copyright laws, but sometimes it is worth taking that risk.
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