OCTOBER 12, 2019 | X MIN READ

Tardigrades Creator Appeals Star Trek Copyright Dismissal

After seeing his copyright case against CBS and Netflix over Star Trek: Discovery dismissed in federal court last month, Tardigrades game creator Anas Abdin is appealing, with a YouTube conspiracist leading a $20,000 GoFundMe campaign to pay for the appeal.

What the Appeal Looks Like

The appeal was formally filed in U.S. Second Circuit Court on October 1 by Abdin’s attorney John Johnson, though court filings do not yet cite the legal basis on which Abdin is appealing the dismissal by federal district Judge Lorna G. Schofield.

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How Appeals Work
Basic framework. Each party must submit a written brief. The briefs identify the issues for the court to consider, along with legal arguments to persuade the court. In some cases, the court may hear oral arguments for judges to ask questions and clarify issues. No witness testimony or new evidence is allowed. Thus, in order to understand the lower court’s decision, the appeals court examines the record of the lower court’s proceedings. The record includes all pleadings, pre-trial and post-trial motions, exhibits, and a word-for-word transcript.1)

Standards of review. Typically, a court will review the lower court’s record for legal errors. However, Anas Abdin’s case was resolved by a pre-trial motion to dismiss. So the circuit court will look at the case de novo — like new, as if the case had not been dismissed. That means a complete review of the lower court’s decision, including its findings of fact.2)

However, in a GoFundMe page created for him, Abdin describes how he wants to use money raised for his appeal, focusing on the following:

  • Hiring computer network experts ($20,000-$35,000 per expert)
  • Legal consultations ($1,000/hour for estimated $15,000 total)
  • Marketing, promotion, media outreach
  • Attorneys fees
  • Court and administrative fees

The GoFundMe’s $20,000 goal, however, would fail to pay for anything more than the plan to hire computer network experts. Despite asking for so much money, Abdin provides no justification for these items in an appeal where their findings may not even be admissible (beyond the obvious attorney and court fees).

Even so, AxaMonitor‘s previous coverage of the case sheds some light on how Abdin may use this money.

Computer Network Experts

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"Appeals," Justia.com, retrieved 10/11/19.
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