Star Trek Fan Film Fight Involves Fair Use Claims

Pointy Vulcan ears and a bowl haircut aren't enough characteristics to define a distinctive character, and the Star Trek universe elements that Paramount Pictures and CBS Studios cite as evidence of copyright infringement by a fan film are for the most part unprotectable, said defendants Axanar Productions and Alec Peters in a filing (in Pacer) Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles supporting their motion for summary judgment. They also said their Axanar online fan film works qualify as fair use because the Copyright Act says copying "for purposes of 'comment' may be fair use without any limitation as to the type of comment or the target of the comment." They said the Prelude to Axanar short film is obviously intended as a mockumentary, saying it's "irrelevant" they didn't explicitly claim fair use as parody or satire before being sued. In a reply brief (in Pacer) Monday in support of their motion for partial summary judgment (see 1611250021), Paramount/CBS said the Copyright Act allows the plaintiffs exclusive rights to derivative works and the Axanar/Peters' read of the law "would destroy the longstanding rights of content owners." Paramount/CBS also said Axanar/Peters haven't demonstrated the application of the fair use defense and disputed that the works qualify as satire or parody: "By the Defendants' own admission, [they were] never meant to be anything other than a 'professional' and 'independent' Star Trek work." The plaintiffs also said there's no precedent for saying creation of a non-satirical sequel or prequel is transformative.