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Hollywood Giants Are Headed to Trial to Kill a Star Trek Fan Film

  • Judge rules YouTube filmmaker can’t claim ‘fair use’
  • Maker of ‘Prelude to Axanar’ called biggest Star Trek fan
Actor William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk shoots a phaser in a scene from 'The Man Trap,' the premiere episode of 'Star Trek,' which aired on Sept. 8, 1966.

Actor William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk shoots a phaser in a scene from 'The Man Trap,' the premiere episode of 'Star Trek,' which aired on Sept. 8, 1966.

Photographer: CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
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CBS Corp. and Paramount Pictures Corp. are headed to a trial against the makers of a crowd-funded Star Trek fan film after a judge concluded in what he described as a “Vulcan-like” analysis that it mined the movies and TV-series down to “excruciating details.”

The Hollywood giants got what may be a significant advantage when the judge also ruled Tuesday that the 20-minute film that generated 2.7 million YouTube hits doesn’t qualify as “fair use” of the Star Trek copyrighted franchise. U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner in Los Angeles rejected each side’s request to decide the case in its favor without a trial.