Axanar defense lawyer Erin Ranahan of Winston & Strawn.

See also: Axanar won't back down from dismissal motion (1701News)

Axanar’s defense attorney, Erin Ranahan, filed a reply on April 25, 2016, to plaintiffs’ opposition to her Motion to Dismiss or strike all or part of the amended legal complaint filed by CBS and Paramount Pictures against Alec Peters and Axanar Productions.

The two sides are supposed to argue over the dismissal at what’s likely to be an agenda-filled May 9 scheduling conference, which may also include:

• Revelation of the as-yet-unnamed additional defendants.
• A move to reconcile the two sides’ discovery plans, which were to have been submitted April 18.
• Several alternative dispute resolutions as a means to avoid going to the time and expense of trial.

The 15-page document submitted by Axanar’s legal team at Winston & Strawn essentially reiterated the defense’s three major arguments for dismissing the case, with additional citation of case law intended to rebut the arguments from plaintiffs’ lawyers at Loeb & Loeb:

• Plaintiffs’ copyright claims are based on elements not protected by copyright law;
• Plaintiffs fail to sufficiently identify the works and copyrights that have allegedly been infringed; and/or
• Plaintiffs’ requested relief is based on an unfinished Axanar film and is therefore premature.

Ranahan also submitted a five-page reply to plaintiffs’ opposition to her Request for Judicial Notice, which consisted of definitions and information sources the defense wanted Judge R. Gary Klausner to accept so they wouldn’t have to be argued before the court.

The plaintiffs’ opposition brief had argued against this request.

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