The Biggest Lawsuits In Star Trek History
Which legal battles stand out in Star Trek?
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00:00 In 50 years, it turns out that Star Trek has had its time in the witness box, many times
00:04 over.
00:05 Quite a few of these cases have been tossed out of court, owing to the ludicrous nature
00:08 of the claims or the failure to provide direct evidence when needed.
00:11 Still, others have involved a bitter fight all the way to the end.
00:14 With that in mind, I'm Sean Ferrick for Trek Culture, and here are 10 biggest and
00:18 weirdest lawsuits in Star Trek history.
00:20 10.
00:21 The shoe is on the other foot.
00:22 In 1980, clerks of England, makers of Trek Shoes, obtained the license to produce Star
00:27 Wars branded sneakers for children.
00:29 At nearly the same time, the Glenn Shoe Company announced that it would begin producing a
00:32 line of licensed Star Trek branded shoes for children.
00:36 Clerks were not happy about this.
00:37 This would put the two companies in direct competition with each other in the sci-fi
00:40 branded footwear market.
00:42 Though initially, there was nothing to be done, as clerks did not have the rights to
00:45 produce Star Trek products.
00:46 It did, however, have the rights to the "Trek" label.
00:49 They brought a suit to the Southern District of New York and sought to block the Glenn
00:52 Shoe Company from selling any of its proposed Star Trek shoes.
00:55 However, the suit was denied as the court deemed that the "Trek" shoes, which were
00:59 designed for adults, and the "Star Trek" shoes, which were made for children with images
01:03 of Mr. Spock and the Starship Enterprise on them, were not in competition with each other
01:06 and there was little chance of confusion.
01:08 9.
01:09 Bootleg tapes are deemed copyright infringement.
01:11 In 1981, Les Rabinowitz was brought to court over the illegal distribution of Star Trek
01:16 on VHS cassette.
01:18 Paramount understandably did not take kindly to him profiting off their product, yet he
01:22 made a compelling counter-argument.
01:23 He stated that the pre-1978 airing of Star Trek had fallen into the public domain, as
01:28 the entire original series had been exhibited as a general publication without the copyright
01:33 notice required by the 1909 Copyright Act.
01:35 Perhaps unsurprisingly, the defence failed to impress the court and Rabinowitz was ordered
01:39 to cease and desist his sale of the videotapes.
01:41 As this coincided with a new surge in popularity after the release of Star Trek The Motion
01:45 Picture and the studio was gearing up towards the release of Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan,
01:49 this case brought publicity to the franchise, even if it came at the cost of some diehard
01:52 collectors.
01:53 8.
01:54 Spock Plates Cause Trouble
01:55 The Hamilton Group is a company that primarily produces limited edition plates.
01:59 It was one such plate that caused this legal action to be taken in 1984.
02:03 They released an edition featuring Mr. Spock, along with a statement that read "After
02:07 a 90-day firing period, these editions will be retired and the masters will be destroyed,
02:12 meaning they can never be reopened."
02:14 This was clearly to drum up extra interest and ensure a surge in purchases.
02:17 However, in 1987, Hamilton put up more of these so-called "limited edition plates",
02:22 which caused a customer to complain to the National Advertising Division of the Better
02:25 Business Bureau.
02:26 Hamilton then explained that their 90-day firing period did not necessarily state that
02:30 it would be 90 consecutive days, so they had done nothing wrong.
02:33 However, they did offer a refund to the customer for the price of the plate and agreed to use
02:37 clearer terminology going forward to avoid any such confusion.
02:41 7.
02:42 Romulan Punk Rock
02:43 James White is the frontman for a punk rock band named The Romulans, formed in 1982.
02:47 The name was derived from a combination of Romulus and Romans.
02:50 This was a statement on the politics of ancient Rome and how they compared to the politics
02:54 of Reagan-era America in the 1980s.
02:56 White attempted to register the band's name and logo in 1983, which Paramount Pictures
03:00 quickly opposed.
03:01 They claimed that Romulans had long been a part of the Star Trek franchise, as the original
03:05 Romulan commander and ship had appeared in 1966.
03:09 Further to this, they had produced licensed material, merchandise and other goods with
03:12 the name Romulan on them.
03:14 The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled against Paramount in this instance.
03:17 They found that, while the company had produced these items as described, they had failed
03:21 to do so while copywriting the name Romulan.
03:24 Therefore, they found that White was free to register his band's name and logo.
03:27 Thus, a new era of pointy-eared punk rock began.
03:30 6.
03:31 A Sexy Federation of Planets
03:33 Joanna Lindsay, author of Warrior's Woman, was sued by Sharon Green, author of The Warrior
03:37 Within.
03:38 Here are both synopses, starting with Warrior's Woman.
03:40 Experienced in combat, but not in love, the beautiful, untouched Amazon flies with Martha,
03:45 her wise, cracking, free-thinking computer, to a world where warriors reign supreme, and
03:50 then into the arms of the one man she can never hope to vanquish, the bronzed barbarian,
03:54 Shalin Linsiter, and the Warrior Within.
03:58 On assignment to a primitive planet where women are valued for their pliancy and eroticism,
04:02 Terri encounters the huge barbarian, Tamant, a blonde behemoth who appreciates her in an
04:07 entirely different way from the men on her homeworld.
04:10 Torn between attraction and rebelliousness, she begins a journey that will shape her life
04:14 and the lives of those around her.
04:16 While we immediately source copies of these novels, Green's lawsuit stated that Lindsay's
04:20 censure league of confederated planets was entirely too similar to her own "central
04:24 amalgamation".
04:25 This, among other things, was the basis of her argument.
04:27 The court threw out the case.
04:29 They argued that Star Trek had beaten both authors to the punch with their united federation
04:34 of planets.
04:35 Besides, they continued, a central alliance of worlds was hardly something that could
04:38 be trademarked by any one author.
04:40 No, really, has anyone got any copies of those books?
04:42 5.
04:43 Direct TV goes to court.
04:45 The famous ad from 2006 parodied Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country.
04:49 In it, William Shatner reprises the role of Captain Kirk, poking fun at the older movie.
04:53 Chekov asks the captain if they should raise their shields, to which he replies, "Again
04:57 with the shields?"
04:58 The ad was designed to boost sales for Direct TV.
05:00 However, Time Warner took issue with the statement from the other company was advertising that
05:04 their quality was superior to all other forms of television.
05:08 They took Direct TV to court.
05:10 Time Warner's argument was that the ad was a case of false advertising.
05:12 The district court ruled in their favour, stating that it was a case of literal falsity.
05:16 Direct TV was claiming that its picture quality was superior to what was commercially available,
05:21 which was not the case at all.
05:22 The case adopted the "false by necessary implication" doctrine, which the Second
05:25 Circuit affirmed.
05:27 4.
05:28 Roddenberry v. Roddenberry.
05:30 Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry divorced his wife Elaine in 1969, which was around
05:34 the same time that the original series ended.
05:36 The document was mostly handwritten, and in it, Elaine was promised one-half interest
05:40 in future profit participation from Star Trek.
05:43 In 1996, after Gene had passed away, Elaine brought a suit against his estate, managed
05:48 by his widow, Majel Barrett, to collect her dues.
05:51 She argued that there had been no limitations on what the one-half interest meant, and that
05:54 she was due income from all of the Star Trek movies, merchandising, and current series.
05:59 The court disagreed that she was due anything from the movies or merchandising, though conceded
06:03 that she'd be entitled to revenue from The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, as they
06:07 were continuations of the original series.
06:09 However, this decision was overturned by the Court of Appeals, as they found it unlikely
06:13 that either party had intended this agreement to go beyond the original series, which in
06:17 1969 was considered a financial failure.
06:20 Future movies and spin-off shows were unimaginable at that point, so they ruled that Elaine was
06:24 not due anything.
06:25 3.
06:26 Identity theft of a dabbo girl.
06:28 In 2002, Chase Masterson, real name Christiane Carrafano, discovered that someone had created
06:33 a fake profile for her on Matchmaker.com.
06:36 The profile described certain sexual exploits that she "liked", as well as stating that
06:40 she "wanted a man who could dominate her both in and out of bed".
06:44 The profile included her photo, home address, and telephone number.
06:48 Masterson soon received disturbing and threatening phone calls, along with less insidious, yet
06:52 still unwanted, messages from Star Trek fans.
06:55 She brought a suit against Matchmaker.com for defamation and invasion of privacy, but
06:59 the district court dismissed the claims.
07:01 The defence argued that even though much of the information had been provided as answers
07:04 to the site's personality form generators, that alone did not leave them an information
07:09 content provider.
07:10 The website was then immune from any responsibility under Section 230 of the Communications Decency
07:15 Act, even though the court conceded that the consequences of such immunity were deplorable.
07:20 2.
07:21 Nimoy v. Paramount.
07:23 In 1972, Leonard Nimoy met Henry Fonda on the set of The Alpha Caper, after which they
07:28 remained friends.
07:29 Three years later, Nimoy and his wife Sandra Zoepfer joined Fonda and his wife Shirley
07:33 May Adams for dinner after a performance of the play he was appearing in, Darrow.
07:37 During this dinner, Fonda asked Nimoy what he thought of the Spock billboards all over
07:41 town.
07:42 "What billboards?"
07:43 Nimoy replied.
07:44 He had seen Spock's face on merchandise for quite some time, yet never given it much thought.
07:48 However, the sexual nature of the Heineken ad, in which drinking beer makes Spock's
07:52 ears rise, he found to be in bad taste.
07:55 He discovered that Heineken had not received permission to use his likeness, though he
07:58 also found that Paramount had not been paying him for merchandising rights in several years.
08:02 He sued the company, going so far as to hold up any production on Star Trek The Motion
08:06 Picture until the case was resolved.
08:08 With the help from Jeffrey Katzenberg, a payment was delivered to Nimoy and the case was settled.
08:13 1.
08:14 Axanar.
08:15 The Axanar fan film production is probably the most well-known lawsuit surrounding the
08:19 franchise.
08:20 Fan productions have existed for years, yet Alec Peters' prelude to Axanar drew the
08:23 ire of CBS.
08:24 Peters released a 21-minute film that was to lead into a 90-minute feature.
08:29 However, there is more to this than a simple-ish case of straightforward copyright.
08:33 Around the same time that Prelude to Axanar was released, there were several fan projects
08:36 in production, such as Star Trek New Voyages, Star Trek Continues, and Star Trek Renegades.
08:41 The latter was billed as a new pilot, which was then switched to a web series.
08:45 CBS took the Axanar production to court, citing several issues.
08:48 The scene set on Vulcan, released in 2015, was deemed indistinguishable from the content
08:53 they had already produced.
08:55 Pre-production was underway under Star Trek Discovery, which certainly shared story elements
08:59 with Axanar, including the Klingon War itself.
09:02 Also cited was the use of the Klingon language in ships, along with the Vulcans.
09:05 Seeking a settlement, the Axanar team offered the production to CBS free of charge, yet
09:10 this was rejected.
09:11 In May 2016, CBS then released a new set of guidelines for any fan production to follow,
09:17 though the restrictions they imposed were described by Peters as "draconian".
09:20 A short time later, J.J. Abrams spoke at an event promoting Star Trek Beyond, during which
09:25 he announced that the lawsuit would shortly be going away.
09:28 However, this did not turn out to be the case.
09:30 CBS proceeded with the suit, and both parties settled in early 2017, with an agreement that
09:35 was very similar to the first one proposed back in 2015.
09:38 Though the original plan of a 90-minute film was out the window, two 15-minute episodes
09:42 were permitted.
09:43 While the release of these episodes was delayed by over a year due to COVID-19, there is good
09:47 news to come.
09:48 In the summer of 2021, the full two-hour audio drama of Axanar will be released on their
09:53 website read by J.G.
09:55 Hertzler.
09:56 And that is everything for our list today.
09:57 Do you reckon we missed anything?
09:58 Please drop it into the comments below.
09:59 Please don't forget to like, share and subscribe, and remember that you can catch Trek Culture
10:03 over on Twitter @TrekCulture.
10:05 You can catch myself @SeanFerric as well.
10:07 Whatever you do, till we see you again, make sure you look after yourselves, and live long
10:11 and prosper.
10:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]