Thursday, March 23, 2017
LAW BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY LAW
TECHNOLOGY LAW BUSINESS
RECORDER
Trekkies Beware! Paramount Pictures v.
Axanar Productions
By Joel M. Grossman
ovie and far and actually produce a very TV stu- professional movie funded by dios often crowdsourcing? That is the allowtheir question raised by the case of
M
- fans
- to
Paramount Pictures Corp. v.
engage in behavior which tech- Axanar Productions, Inc. The nically might violate copyright case has not been fully litior trademark law. For exam- gated, but the district court’s ple, the studio which owns the ruling on cross-motions for copyright to Star Wars might summary judgment is both let fans produce a short video amusing and instructive.
- in which fans dress up as Darth
- To begin with the basic facts,
Vader or Princess Leia, and act plaintiff Paramount Pictures out a scene from the film. If and CBS own the copyright to the fans post their homemade the Star Trek television shows 10 minute video on You Tube, and Paramount owns the copythe studio probably wouldn’t right to the thirteen full-length mind. They might even encour- movies that followed. While age such amateur tributes, as the copyright owners allowed they might keep interest in the fans to make their own amaproduct alive until the next teur films, they sued when, in sequel or prequel hits the mul- their view, Axanar Productions
Trek films before with no lawsuit 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 production. Axanar produced and publicly released what it called
- tiplex.
- crossed the line. As the court
But what happens if, in a explained, while other Trekstudio’s view, the fans go too kies have made their own Star
RECORDER
“Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar,” the court noted many such in order to raise money to similarities, it denied Paramake the full-length film. At mount’s motion for summary this point Paramount sued, judgment, holding that a jury and each side moved for sum- must ultimately decide the mary judgment. Paramount issue. At the same time, the sought a ruling from the court court denied Axanar’s motion of copyright infringement, seeking a judicial approval of while Axanar sought summary its fair use defense. The court judgment on the defense of fair denied the motion, based on 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 dispute that [Paramount and CBS] have ownership of copyrights to [Star Trek], and that [Axanar]‘s works are substantially similar to [Star Trek}. Thus, the copyright infringement claim can live long and prosper…”
- use.
- its application of the fair use
In seeking a ruling of copy- factors. While Axanar argued right infringement, Para- that its film is actually a parmount pointed to Axanar’s ody, or “mockumentary,” of use of copyright-protected the original Star Trek, the elements, such as Klingons court was not convinced, notand Vulcans, and the human ing that “Defendants set out character Garth of Izar, all of to create films that stay faithwhom appeared in the tele- ful to the Star Trek canon and vision series. In addition, appeal to Star Trek fans.”
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
- Axanar used phasers, the
- While neither side won its
Federation logo and even summary judgment motion, the Klingon language. While the court’s analysis leads to
Reprinted with permission from the March 23, 2017 edition of THE RECORDER © 2017 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited.
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