Legal Defense
Table of Contents
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LAWSUIT PRIMER Get an overview of the copyright lawsuit, including a timeline of the case, as well as downloadable pleadings made by the plaintiffs, CBS and Paramount, and defendants Alec Peters and Axanar Productions Inc. » Lawsuit Primer
Court of Public Opinion
See also: Axanar Myths
Axanar’s struggle is playing out not only in the legal system but in the court of public opinion. The production and its vocal supporters have tried to buttress their potential legal defense with pleas for public support they believe may provide leverage in a decision by CBS and Paramount to settle amicably instead of proceeding to a full jury trial, as requested in the studios’ legal complaint.
Licensing
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The following section, Battle for the Fans, features opinion or informed speculation.
Battle for "the Fans"
The reaction by Star Trek fans about the Axanar lawsuit has been divided, mirroring to some extent the divide in fans’ reception to the franchise’s 2009 reboot in director J.J. Abrams’ film, Star Trek, which was a critical and box office success, but whose action-oriented reinterpretation disappointed long-time fans.
Many people writing about the lawsuit tend to invoke “the fans” as if they are a monolithic group who naturally react to CBS and Paramount’s shepherding of the Star Trek franchise with the antipathy fans should hold toward the creative decisions made by money-hungry corporations. But by all accounts, fandom are divided along various faultlines — among them generational and genre. The blog, The Culture Cast with Zack and Nick, summed it up this way:
The reaction online has been hilarious and sad. From what I have seen at sites such as Trek Today and TrekMovie (but, oddly enough, not at the TrekBBS), fans who were supportive of Axanar have decried CBS/Paramount saying they are declaring war on “fan culture” (whatever that means), or saying that they realize that Axanar is better than their upcoming Star Trek Beyond film … so they are trying to crush the competition. Hashtag campaigns have begun as has a petition over at Change.org (because, you know, this is an important matter). Other fans have decided they will boycott the upcoming Star Trek film and all other Trek-related projects to which I say, “No, you’re not.”1) [hyperlinks added to quoted text]
On the other side, fans who either question how Axanar has conducted itself or believe its actions may endanger other fan films discuss their points of view on such Facebook groups as CBS/Paramount v. Axanar.
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