Jury To Decide Star Trek Fan Movie Case

Though Paramount Pictures and CBS appear to have scored a major victory in their copyright suit over an online movement to fund a fan-made Star Trek movie, a federal judge will ask a jury to determine whether the works would be seen by lay people as substantively similar to older TV shows and films in the franchise. Alec Peters’ Axanar Productions set out to raise more than $1 million on Kickstarter to film a prequel to Star Trek, but about a year ago Paramount and CBS sued. Despite promises from Star Trek Beyond director Justin Lin that the suit would be dismissed, Paramount and CBS continued with the suit, which will now be sent to trial.