Both Hollywood giants, Paramount Pictures and CBS Studios, have decided to resolve a copyright litigation concerning a Star Trek fan film rather than risk the money and the time to go to trial at the end of this month. There have been more than a few copyright trials to come before a judicial bench but it seems that one concerning fan fictions is extremely, rare if not unknown.
The film was made my Alec Peters and is a 21 minute short entitled Prelude to Axanar. Peters ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise the money for the film and even hired professional actors to play the various parts. Paramount and CBS, however, took grave exception back in 2015 because they seem to own the copyright to the entire Star Trek franchise. When Peters launched his film, complete with Vulcans and proper Klingon being spoken; well, the giants appeared to have had enough. The litigation flew through the courts and, in just 13 quick months, the trial was poised to take place at the end of January 2017.
Here is the trailer for Prelude To Axanar…
In a legally prepared joint statement the parties stated that, “Paramount Pictures Corporation, CBS Studios Inc., Axanar Productions, Inc. and Alec Peters are pleased to announce that the litigation regarding Axanar’s film Prelude to Axanar and its proposed film Axanar has been resolved. Axanar and Mr. Peters acknowledge that both films were not approved by Paramount or CBS, and that both works crossed boundaries acceptable to CBS and Paramount relating to copyright law.”
There have been fan tussles before like over the television show Seinfeld as well as over the Harry Potter books and films. There was even a copyright battle for a while over someone having published a popular English-Klingon dictionary. Apparently, there were many a wink and a nod over the years from both CBS and Paramount with regard to Stark Trek fan productions. But Peters, to them, had boldly gone where no one had ever gone before. He actually produced a professional quality film and the two giants decided not to look the other way this time.
Many who are close to, and familiar with, it all have concluded that Peters got sued because his film is too good.
Peters’ followup film, Axanar, will have substantial adjustments made to it. The litigation came down to Peters wanting to avoid a negative jury verdict. The judge in the case stated that, for Peters to avoid a judgement against him, the jurors would have to conclude, after seeing the film, that Prelude to Axanar really doesn’t feel like Star Trek to them.
Christian Gossett is a film director who has been hired to direct the Axanar film project. He said of Prelude to Axanar that, “It was first presented to me as something very raw and unformed. Once it became clear that Prelude was not a Star Trek spec for CBS but a fundraising tool that generated over $1 million [in crowdfunding], I suspected that a lawsuit might follow.”
The settlement agreement stated, in part, that, “Axanar and Mr. Peters have agreed to make substantial changes to Axanar to resolve this litigation, and have also assured the copyright holders that any future Star Trek fan films produced by Axanar or Mr. Peters will be in accordance with the ‘Guidelines for Fan Films’ distributed by CBS and Paramount in June 2016.”
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