AXANAR LAWSUIT SETTLED

by David Holquinn
 

It’s been a long road getting from there to here. The Axanar lawsuit has been settled.

Just 11 days before the scheduled copyright infringement trial, plaintiffs CBS Studios and Paramount Pictures settled out of court with Axanar Productions and Alec Peters, putting an end to the lawsuit which was filed in December of 2015.

As a result of the settlement, Peters will not be making the original 100-minute “feature film” as planned but will instead be allowed to produce two 15-minute short films that must conform to the official Star Trek fan-film guidelines set forth by CBS and Paramount in June 2016. As part of those guidelines, some of the cast and crew originally slated for Axanar are no longer able to be involved, although the settlement does allow Richard Hatch, Kate Vernon, J.G. Hertzler and Gary Graham to participate, “but no other actors who have appeared in professional Star Trek productions.” The two 15-minute segments, and the pre-existing Prelude to Axanar, will be allowed to be presented on YouTube for free, both prohibited from including commercialized ads.

You can read more about the settlement at Axamonitor, and read Axanar Production’s official statement.

What are your thoughts on the settlement? Will you watch and support Axanar in the new shorter form?

by Deyvid