A dispute over the ownership of the Klingon language is boldly going where no legal row has gone before after two major Hollywood studios cited their copyright of the fictional Star Trek tongue to block the production of a fan-funded film.
Paramount Pictures Corp and CBS Studios, who own the Star Trek film and television franchises, have been locked in a court battle with the production team behind Axanar, an “independent” Star Trek prequel, amid claims that the fan film infringed “innumerable” copyrighted elements.
The two studios have now filed an amended complaint that lists exactly what these alleged interstellar intellectual infringements are.
The studios claim numerous copyright infringements in Axanar include the use of the Klingon language, the depiction of Vulcans, which have similarly pointy ears according to the studios, along with the use of phasers, warp drive, ‘beaming up’ transporters and the characters’ gold uniforms and triangular medals.
They also say the film is infringing on Star Trek’s characters such as Starfleet captain Richard Robau and the names of planets and more.
The court documents state: “Klingonese or Klingon, the native language of Qo’noS, was first spoken in Star Trek – The Motion Picture in 1979. It was used in several works moving forward, including Star Trek III The Search for Spock.”
Paramount and CBS show 45 examples where Axanar has “intentionally sought to replicate the Star Trek copyrighted works”.
Jonathan Lane, a writer connected with Axanar Productions, wrote on the production company’s blog that CBS and Paramount should stand down from their lawsuit because Axanar and its ilk are “free commercials” for the Star Trek franchise.
He added: “The last thing a studio should do right now is to sue the folks who are making free commercials for them…especially 6-figure and 7-figure commercials.
“And let’s take a look at how the other studios are handling this. Disney is embracing Star Wars fan films and reaping all the benefits while not suffering any kind of loss of interest or perceived value of their intellectual property.
“Warner Brothers is happy to have fan-made Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Nightwing videos on YouTube.
“If CBS and Paramount remove Star Trek fan films from the online social media equation, they’re just leaving more room for the competition to expand into that vacuum while Star Trek goes dark and silent.”