Back in December, Paramount Pictures launched a lawsuit against the crowdfunded fan film Star Trek: Axanar for infringing “innumerable copyrighted elements of Star Trek, including its settings, characters, species, and themes” – a move that drew heavy criticism from fans of the sci-fi franchise. Well, it seems that the lawsuit is set to be dropped, as J.J. Abrams revealed at last night’s fan event – where the new trailer for Star Trek Beyond was released – that he and director Justin Lin have lobbied Paramount to cease the legal action against Axanar Productions.
“A few months back there was a fan film, Axanar, that was getting made and there was this lawsuit that happened between the studio and these fans and Justin, I’ll tell the story because he probably wouldn’t, was sort of outraged by this as a long time fan,” said Abrams (via io9). We started talking about it and realized this was not an appropriate way to deal with the fans. The fans should be celebrating this thing. Fans of Star Trek are part of this world. So he went to the studio and pushed them to stop this lawsuit and now, within the next few weeks, it will be announced this is going away, and that fans would be able to continue working on their project.”
In response to Abrams’ comments, Axanar Productions released the following statement:
“While we’re grateful to receive the public support of JJ Abrams and Justin Lin, as the lawsuit remains pending, we want to make sure we go through all the proper steps to make sure all matters are settled with CBS and Paramount. Our goal from the beginning of this legal matter has been to address the concerns of the plaintiffs in a way that still allows us to tell the story of AXANAR and meets the expectations of the over 10,000 fans who financially supported our project. There is still a lot of work to do, but receiving this kind of public support helps immensely.”
SEE ALSO: Watch the Star Trek fan film Prelude to Axanar
“Axanar” takes place 21 years before the events of “Where no Man Has Gone Before”. It is the story of Garth of Izar, the legendary Starfleet captain who is Captain Kirk’s hero and the role model for a generation Starfleet Officer’s. Garth charted more planets than any other Captain and was the hero of the Battle of Axanar and his exploits are required reading at Starfleet Academy. This is the story of Garth and his crew during the Four Years War, the war with the Klingon Empire that almost tore the Federation apart, and whose resolution solidified the Federation and allowed it to become the entity we know in Kirk’s time.
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Originally published May 21, 2016. Updated November 29, 2022.
