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Plaintiffs Oppose Dismissal Motion

Main article: Lawsuit
See also: Summary of the legal complaint, Motion to dismiss, Plaintiffs' attorneys

BREAKING This is a developing story, and this article will be updated as we sift through the details of the legal briefs. Check back often.

APR. 11 — The attorneys for CBS and Paramount filed two briefs today opposing the defense motion to dismiss their lawsuit against Axanar Productions and producer Alec Peters for infringing on the studios’ Star Trek copyrights.

The studios’ attorneys, Loeb & Loeb filed two briefs:

The opposition brief re-states the allegations in the legal complaint that defendants Peters, his company Axanar Productions and up to 20 as-yet-unnamed 'Doe’ defendants “have attempted to recreate the entire look and feel of Plaintiffs’ works and have stated that they are producing an authentic “Star Trek film.” In order to create these infringing derivative works, Defendants have used numerous Star Trek elements, including copyrighted characters, stories, sets, costumes, etc., all without Plaintiffs’ consent.1)

In its motion to dismiss CBS and Paramounts legal complaint, the defense alleged:

  • Elements are not protected by copyright. “The amended allegations go beyond the plausible realm of copyright protection,” the motion stated. Such elements without protection include clothing, colors, shapes, words, short phrases, works derived from nature, public domain and third-party works, the Klingon language, scènes à faire, certain characters, and ideas — including the “mood and theme” of scifi.2)
  • Allegations are not specific enough. Even if the alleged infringing elements were protected, the defense asserted the violations aren’t sufficiently specific. “While Plaintiffs allege that they own ‘more than 700’ Star Trek television episodes, a dozen motion pictures, and four books, they still fail to specify which of those copyrights Defendants have allegedly infringed.”3)

Copyrightable Star Trek Elements

Writing on behalf of plaintiffs CBS and Paramount, Loeb attorney David Grossman argued:

Defendants have lifted numerous specific characters (such as Garth of Izar and Soval), settings (including several fictional planets), races (such as Klingons and Vulcans), copyrighted vessels (such as the U.S.S. Enterprise and other Federation and Klingon spaceships), dialogue and much more. Defendants have bodily appropriated the Star Trek universe — admittedly so in order to create an authentic prequel to The Original Series. The Complaint adequately and “plausibly” alleges copyright infringement and Defendants’ motion should be denied.4)

Costumes

Dialogue

Public Domain

Language

Mood and Theme

Scènes à Faire

Characters

Sufficiently Detailed

Facts Under Defendants' Control

Plaintiffs' Claims Not Premature

'Ripe' Controversy

Opposition to Request for Judicial Notice

AxaMonitor‘s Carlos Pedraza is live-tweeting what he finds in the briefs. Follow our Twitter feed here — AxaMonitor


Keywords

1)
Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, p. 1, lines 12-16.
2) , 3)
Motion to Dismiss, 3/28/16.
4)
Plaintiffs’ Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, p. 6, lines 3-10.
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