10 Biggest (And Weirdest) Lawsuits In Star Trek History
9. Bootleg Tapes Are Deemed Copyright Infringement
In 1981, Les Rubinowitz was brought to court over the illegal distribution of Star Trek on VHS cassette. Paramount understandably did not take kindly to him profiting off their product, yet he made a compelling counter-argument.
He stated that the pre-1978 airing of Star Trek had fallen into the public domain, as the entire Original Series had been exhibited as a general publication, without the copyright notice required by the 1909 Copyright Act.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this defence failed to impress the court, and Rubinowitz was ordered to cease and desist in his sale of the videotapes. As this coincided with a new surge in popularity after the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the studio was gearing up toward the release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, this case brought publicity to the franchise - even if it came at the cost of some die-hard collectors.