10 Biggest (And Weirdest) Lawsuits In Star Trek History

9. Bootleg Tapes Are Deemed Copyright Infringement

Star Trek Cassette
CBS

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.

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Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"