https://www.inverse.com/article/11905-paramount-must-explain-star-trek-in-court-or-lose-ownership
QuoteParamount is currently in court, trying to stop the production of a fan-made crowdfunded Star Trek prequel film on the grounds it violates the studio's ownership of the copyright. Launched in 2014, the film Prelude to Axanar covers the missions of the first Federation warship and takes place during the childhood of James T. Kirk but well away from him. The problem with all that is that it definitely shares a universe with every other Star Trek film and movie. The question becomes whether or not Star Trek is the universe or what happens within it.
well, OK then...
QuoteThe Paramount lawsuit claims that this infringes upon "thousands of copyrights" and the Axanar team has asked the simple question: "Which ones?" Because Star Trek now exists over several different universes, time periods, and casts, it's not so simple. The universe is so spread out, it is almost impossible to define what Star Trek actually is. To that end, the burden is on Paramount to explain what Star Trek is — in a legal sense.
oy vey. That'll be a shit-ton of fun in court
And the IP Wars continue..
I am entirely sure that in literary law, if your work takes place in the same milieu as X, that work is definably X in milieu and so falls under intellectual property rights. Leeway is allowed for minor homages.
I doubt the issue is more vague when we're talking about Star Trek regardless of the milieu complexity. The moment a lawyer asks whether the film is being marketed as being "like" Star Trek or as being "more" Star Trek, the defense is screwed. This film isn't Galaxy Quest or Andromeda.
While I'm not optimistic about the odds of it actually happening, I would love to see this question trip up Paramount in such a way that it causes them to lose their case. Bastards.
I would rather seem them buy the film and release it. that way everyone wins.
The best part (in my head, at any rate) is going to be the amount of "experts," that get dragged from the basements - preferably in costume &/or prosthetics - to proclaim what parts of the ST universe is when, where and so on.