Trekkies Beware: Paramount Pictures V. Axanar Productions
Source:
The Recorder
Date:
May 3, 2017
Joel M. Grossman, Esq.
daily at www.therecorder.com
LAW BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY LAW
TECHNOLOGY LAW BUSINESS
RECORDER
M
ovie and
TV stu-
dios often
allow their
fans to
engage in behavior which tech-
nically might violate copyright
or trademark law. For exam-
ple, the studio which owns the
copyright to Star Wars might
let fans produce a short video
in which fans dress up as Darth
Vader or Princess Leia, and act
out a scene from the film. If
the fans post their homemade
10 minute video on You Tube,
the studio probably wouldn’t
mind. They might even encour-
age such amateur tributes, as
they might keep interest in the
product alive until the next
sequel or prequel hits the mul-
tiplex.
But what happens if, in a
studio’s view, the fans go too
far and actually produce a very
professional movie funded by
crowdsourcing? That is the
question raised by the case of
Paramount Pictures Corp. v.
Axanar Productions, Inc. The
case has not been fully liti-
gated, but the district court’s
ruling on cross-motions for
summary judgment is both
amusing and instructive.
To begin with the basic facts,
plaintiff Paramount Pictures
and CBS own the copyright to
the Star Trek television shows
and Paramount owns the copy-
right to the thirteen full-length
movies that followed. While
the copyright owners allowed
fans to make their own ama-
teur films, they sued when, in
their view, Axanar Productions
crossed the line. As the court
explained, while other Trek-
kies have made their own Star
Trek films before with no law-
suit from Paramount, Axanar
sought to go “where no man
has gone before” and produce
a professional Star Trek film,
with a fully professional crew,
many of whom worked on one
or more Star Trek productions.
Axanar raised over a million
dollars through crowdsourcing
websites to finance the pro-
duction. Axanar produced and
publicly released what it called
Trekkies Beware! Paramount Pictures v.
Axanar Productions
By Joel M. Grossman
Thursday, March 23, 2017 “Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar,”
in order to raise money to
make the full-length film. At
this point Paramount sued,
and each side moved for sum-
mary judgment. Paramount
sought a ruling from the court
of copyright infringement,
while Axanar sought summary
judgment on the defense of fair
use.
In seeking a ruling of copy-
right infringement, Para-
mount pointed to Axanar’s
use of copyright-protected
elements, such as Klingons
and Vulcans, and the human
character Garth of Izar, all of
whom appeared in the tele-
vision series. In addition,
Axanar used phasers, the
Federation logo and even
the Klingon language. While
the court noted many such
similarities, it denied Para-
mount’s motion for summary
judgment, holding that a jury
must ultimately decide the
issue. At the same time, the
court denied Axanar’s motion
seeking a judicial approval of
its fair use defense. The court
denied the motion, based on
its application of the fair use
factors. While Axanar argued
that its film is actually a par-
ody, or “mockumentary,” of
the original Star Trek, the
court was not convinced, not-
ing that “Defendants set out
to create films that stay faith-
ful to the Star Trek canon and
appeal to Star Trek fans. ”
While neither side won its
summary judgment motion,
the court’s analysis leads to
the conclusion that Paramount
will most likely prevail and the
distribution of Axanar’s film
will be enjoined. As the court
stated: “Here, there is no dis-
pute that [Paramount and CBS]
have ownership of copyrights to
[Star Trek], and that [Axanar]‘s
works are substantially similar
to [Star Trek}. Thus, the copy-
right infringement claim can
live long and prosper… ”
Joel M. Grossman, Esq.
has been exclusively devoted
to mediation and arbitration
since 2004, following his 25-year
legal career as a litigator, labor
negotiator, and in-house coun-
sel overseeing complex enter-
tainment disputes. He may be
reached at jgrossman@jam-
sadr.com
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