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A lawsuit over a fan-made Star Trek film won’t be going boldly where no suit has gone before, as it seems Paramount Pictures and CBS have decided to back down.
The studios sued the filmmakers behind Axanar in December, claiming the Kickstarter and Indiegogo-funded project infringed on their copyrights.
According to court documents, Axanar takes place two decades before Captain Kirk’s story takes off in the original Star Trek. It tells the story of Kirk’s hero, Garth of Izar, during a war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.
During a promotional event on Friday for the upcoming Star Trek Beyond, executive producer J.J. Abrams said the suit wasn’t an appropriate way to deal with fans.
Abrams said director Justin Lin, who is a longtime Star Trek fan, was outraged by the lawsuit and pushed the studios to drop it.
“Within the next few weeks it will be announced this is going away and fans will be able to work on their projects,” said Abrams.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner rejected a motion to dismiss the case, finding that even though Axanar is not yet complete, enough copyrighted Star Trek elements were present in the script for the lawsuit to proceed.
It appears we may never know if the Klingon language is copyrightable, as Klausner had yet to reach the issue.
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