With the copyright infringement trial just 11 days away, Star Trek fan film Axanar producer Alec Peters settled with plaintiffs CBS and Paramount Pictures. The terms of the settlement, announced today, require that Peters admit “overreaching” and allow for a scaled-back production of Axanar as two 15-minute films that conform to all of the studios’ fan film guidelines announced last June.
While a Federal judge denied summary judgment January 4, 2017, to both sides in the Axanar copyright infringement lawsuit, he dealt a major blow to the defendants’ hope to use fair use as a defense in the case.
In a decision issued just hours after a hearing, Federal Magistrate Judge Charles F. Eick ordered CBS and Paramount to give Axanar’s attorneys documents the studios had so far resisted turning over in discovery.
The lawsuit brought by the owners of Star Trek, CBS and Paramount, against fan film Axanar and its creator Alec Peters has started to heat up once again. Axanar‘s lawyers have filed a Motion to Compel Discovery, which asks CBS and Paramount to produce documents including financial statements, salaries for actors and crew from every Star Trek episode and film ever produced, and statements in support of Axanar made by Kelvin timeline directors J.J. Abrams and Justin Lin.
Despite the announcement by JJ Abrams that Paramount and CBS would be seeking to end the lawsuit brought against Star Trek fan film Axanar and its creator Alec Peters, the studios are pushing on with the suit, which has moved on to the discovery phase. In a statement, the studios confirmed that the legal action against Axanar and Peters “remains pending”.
With CBS and Paramount reportedly drafting guidelines for fan films, Axanar producer Alec Peters has reached out to at least nine fan productions for their support of rules Peters wants the studios to accept, and isn’t having much luck.
The Axanar copyright lawsuit has just claimed its first casualty: Not Axanar itself (yet), but the sequel to the recently released — and well-received — Star Trek – Horizon. Does this signal the end of all Star Trek fan films?
It has been one heck of a rollercoaster ride for those of us watching the ups and downs of the lawsuit filed by Paramount and CBS against Star Trek fan film Axanar. The huge amount of new information and new (or amended) court filings peppered with celebrity commentary has left a lot of the fans wondering – what’s the deal with the Axanar lawsuit anyways, and how should I feel about it? AxaMonitor.com’s Carlos Pedraza catches us up on the latest facts in the Axanar saga, including where the suit currently stands legally, a move by Peters to sell Ares Studios, plus the latest reactions from Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin and TNG’s Wil Wheaton.