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Axanar Productions’ Motion to Dismiss Denied

Class-Action-Lawsuits

This morning Judge Klausner denied our Motion to Dismiss stating in part:

​”​Although the Court declines to address whether Plaintiffs’ Claims will prosper at this time, the Court does find Plaintiffs’ claims will live long enough to survive Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. For the foregoing reasons, the Court DENIES Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss.”

Winston & Strawn will now prepare our answer to the amended complaint, which is due in ​14 days.

In the meantime, we continue our​ ​efforts to settle this matter  with CBS and Paramount so we can move forward with telling the story of AXANAR in a way that satisfies both the studios and the over ten thousand fans who financially supported our project.

The trial date has been set for January 31st, 2017.

Join the discussion 31 Comments

  • Michael Miyabara-McCaskey says:

    “The game’s afoot”. 🙂

  • Eric says:

    Disappointing, but not totally unexpected. Good luck the rest of the way, Alec. All of us supporters are looking forward to the seeing the story you want to tell. 🙂

  • Mark Rushton says:

    Is Klausner a Trekker?

    “…prosper….” , “…live long….” Hmmmm…. is he sending a message? 😉 😀

  • Layne Landis says:

    I wish the whole Axanar team the best and hope the trial will be an upset with us the true Star Trek fans reaping the rewards and seeing all the hard work that Axanar puts forth for a truly awesome movie.

  • …YES, trying to find settlement with CBS, i think, is the way to go (leaving paramount’s claim moot?)

    (take Axanar out of paramount’s playground – feature films?) (and not stepping on nu-trek IP?)

    Best of luck, Team Axanar!! =D

  • L. Miller says:

    What I don’t understand is why was Axanar singled oui for legal action? I’ve seen about a dozen different Star Trek fan films of varying production quality. I watched one today called Star Trek Continues. Why Axanar? All of the fan films use Star Trek names, uniforms, ship designs, time lines etc. Why Axanar? Personally, I think it’s because Axanar was setting a new standard; raising the metaphorical warp threshold. CBS saw it as a challenge maybe to the disappointing response from the fan base to the re-booted “Star Trek.” That’s my two slips of latinum. Oops, sorry, didn’t mean to step over the copyright line.

  • EJCox says:

    I find the verbiage interesting. Hang tight Alec you have a lot of us With you!!!

  • Michael Miyabara-McCaskey says:

    BTW, please let us know what “Ares Studio” will be doing for the rest of the year, certainly want to help support you in whatever else you are doing while the law firm does their jobs. (as I said before I would hate the only winner here to be your Landlord)

  • Michael L. says:

    Looking forward to a settlement that is beneficial to all parties, and that will allow Axanar launch in the relatively near future!

  • Lee Benjamin says:

    Perhaps it can end with the best of both worlds…
    🙂

  • Allan Foliart says:

    I wouldn’t mind them putting their stamp of approval on it and actully selling it for their own profit… long as it gets made… you all do what you enjoy making this film a reality… I still stand by the entire aspect that this sounds like a far more interesting t.v series than a movie…

  • Howard Hicks says:

    May the Force be with you. (oh wrong movie) but you guys need it right now. Keep up the fight.

  • Fred says:

    Honestly, Paramount should just team up with you guys and put you in charge of a new star trek mini series. All they managed were two movies in all those years. The same ****%&$! that put an end to star trek enterprise. Obviously they are not fans.

  • Brad says:

    The wording from the court is not at all encouraging.
    I do not thing anyone should be lead down a garden path here.
    This simply does not sound at all positive anything produced outside CBS/Paramount.

    • Alec Peters says:

      Actually Brad, the wording only applies to the Motion to Dismiss. Understand that the court, in order to rule on a MTD, must assume all facts alleged by the plaintiff are true. Thus the standard is VERY high. We remain very hopeful.

  • Romulan Steve says:

    The ball is now in Paramount\CBS’s court, the question is, which path will they choose?
    They can choose the path of the Hero, and issue production guidelines, along with reasonable licensing and royalty schedules for fan films, thereby cutting themselves in for a piece of the action of a rapidly emerging technology and market segment. OR they can choose the path of the Heel, and try to shut down anything Trek related on the web, continue to deny Trek fans any input regarding the official product, and watch the future pass them by.

  • Harlockncc1701A says:

    This decision do not surprise me at all, what do you spect the court will side with the little guy production against the big guy production? Our justice sistem is gear to protect the 1% and the rest be damn! Now the only thing that can save you is a miracle, and these are in short supply! Nver the least the best of luck to you and may I be prove wrong!

  • eric says:

    why wouldn’t paramount just make them work for them by buying the studio and allowing them continue, it’s already fan funded.

  • George says:

    The rejection of the motion to dismiss is not a victory for fan productions – at all.
    There is very little positive here, I think we should all be careful to paint this rosy when it is surely not.

    • Alec Peters says:

      Nor is it a dismal defeat. A Motion to Dismiss requires the judge to assume ALL FACTS asserted by the plaintiffs are true. The bar is incredibly high for a MTD. The plaintiff has gained nothing other than knowing they will have their day in court.

      • Donald Franck says:

        Alex,

        Have you considered video documenting this and if you win.. you have something you can actually market relating to it. A real david and goliath story.

  • bill branston says:

    It’s a shame this has happened, but I can’t say i’m suprised either… As Axanar is based on things related to things that have been seen or either talked about on one of the official Star Trek series or films. It did seen likley if cbs/paramount wasn’t happy with the film, then the court-judge would think that would be a relevant reason to proceed with the case. Admitedly I can’t see why they aren’t doing this to other fan films though, unless its to do with paying proffesionals or staff for their time to working on the production as maybe they might regard this as people making a profit out of a no-profit production ?

  • george of the Jungle says:

    From what I remember about legal cases like this, Paramount/CBS has allowed Fan Films to use, all the Star Trek lingo, clothing, even its Characters such as Spock, Kirk and “Bones” in Seasonal series of fan TV episodes. low quality or not… these films and movies are all breaking the law of copyright and trademarks. CBS and Paramount have not pursued them thus leaving the question….Are they wanting to see if this Fan film can be profitable…. if so A series on the Klingon war Era is what we fans are waiting for…. even the war with the Romulans. Look Spell checker even recognizes Klingon and Romulan as actual words…=-)

    • bill branston says:

      Yes that makes sense… So if i read this correctly, the reason of the law suit could be more about cbs believing they’re going to make money out of a fan film, rather than infringment on copywrite or it being popular … i would be intersting to see what feed back peter got from cbs when he orginally got permission to make the prelude to axanar and what they said later ?
      This is not a great comparason, but the 501st (offical star wars costume group) are aloud to do any appearances for charity or Non profit events, but if they do any corperate event or an event where the organisers would make money out of star wars group being there, they must first get permission from Disney to otherwise they are not aloud to do it.

      • Alec Peters says:

        It’s Alec not Peter. 🙂 Also, I never said I got permission from CBS. No fan film ever gets permission. CBS doesn’t give out permission. They have a hands off policy.

  • Martin Tallon says:

    I think the fact is that the box office is slowly loosing out to the internet. Anyone can buy a computer and with the right type of software and some know how can produce a video comparable to Hollywood standards. This is a last ditch effort by Paramont / CBS to salvage the income that made them big. Problem is they’ve all bought nice suits and become greedy tycoons and don’t care about the product anymore only the profit. Stores are closing all over the place because web base commerce is cheaper and requires fewer employees and for the most part the movie market is following close behind. With web access creative people around the world can unite for a common goal to produce spectacular movies that wouldn’t otherwise be possible due to cultural and geographic separations. Wasn’t that the whole plot behind the original idea of Trek? The betterment of mankind, outgrowing greed and profit.

  • Joe says:

    Regardless of the final outcome of the legal proceeding, a precedent will be set. Solidify your documentary rights! If nothing else, should Axanar lose the case against it (Sto’vo’Kor forbid), it seems to me that a film exploring what could-have-been and what-ended-up-happening could be wildly successful, even financially.

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