
Lawyer Submits Brief Partially in Klingon for Paramount Language Lawsuit - gortok
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzmetJxi-p0VM19nbUpyNXE0a28/view
======
throwanem
I'm not sure whether, in all the brouhaha over this lawsuit, anyone has paid
much attention to the fan film around which it revolves. "Star Trek: Axanar"
is currently in production for a mid-2016 release, and the short film/long
trailer, "Prelude to Axanar", is a remarkable piece of work in its own right.
Don't let the "fan film" label put you off, either; these are professionally
produced works, with a compelling storyline and real actors (some of whom will
be familiar to fans of the BSG reboot and/or _Star Trek: Enterprise_ ), and
their take on the Star Trek universe should be a breath of fresh air for
anyone frustrated with either Roddenberry's unrealistically optimistic
perspective on humanity's future, or JJ Abrams' "lens flare all the things!"
brodown.

If you're a Star Trek fan at all, you owe it to yourself to at least give
_Prelude to Axanar_ a watch:
[https://youtu.be/1W1_8IV8uhA](https://youtu.be/1W1_8IV8uhA)

(And as an old Babylon 5 fan, I'm delighted they included a sly reference to
that show in _Prelude_ , too. See if you can catch it!)

~~~
saizai
You forgot to link to it:
[https://youtu.be/1W1_8IV8uhA](https://youtu.be/1W1_8IV8uhA)

~~~
chris_wot
Holy crap! These fan films are getting better and better all the time!

I can see why the studios are crapping themselves. No longer are they
competing on mere _copying_ , now they are competing on creativity!

Seriously, if fans can do this with Star Trek, I wonder if they should take
the central precepts of Star Trek, make their own entirely seperate universe
and to hell with it - the studios who refuse to continue much loved series can
be cut out entirely and fans can make their own series.

In fact, they could make their own series but have a central authority to
allow for basic continuity but maximise creativity. Now _that_ would be
remarkable.

The fans could find their own games and spinoffs pretty nicely too.

~~~
BugsBunnySan
Well, in a small way, someone did that:

Star Wreck - In the Prikinning
([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472566/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472566/))

available for free here:
[https://archive.org/details/StarWreckInThePirkining](https://archive.org/details/StarWreckInThePirkining)

(These are the guys who then went on to do Iron Sky :D )

~~~
gulpahum
And they are also planning a new Star Wreck short film!

[http://www.starwreck.com](http://www.starwreck.com)

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chris_wot
What we have here is one of the true great footnotes in legal history:

 _" 2\. Mr. Okrand himself has asserted that the Klingon language, tlhIngan
Hol, was received by him from a captured Klingon named Maltz. See Okrand,
Marc, The Klingon Dictionary (1985). Thus, Plaintiffs may be estopped from
asserting otherwise for the purposes of this litigation. See Arica Inst., Inc.
v. Palmer, 970 F.2d 1067, 1075 (2d Cir. 1992) (author who disavowed inventing
enneagrams publicly cannot claim invention inconsistently to improve a
litigation position)."_

~~~
HCIdivision17
IANAL, so I'm hoping I'm understanding this right: because Okrand wrote the
dictionary, and in it claimed that he learned it from an actual Klingon, he
may not now say he invented it? The argument kinda being, if the language is
real, and he wrote a non-fiction authoratative book on it... then he can't be
inconsistent about the origins?

It's hard for me to wrap my head around it, but it's hilariously clever if I'm
reading it right.

~~~
AimHere
That's the gist. This is the lawyer having (even more) fun with the lawsuit,
because why the hell wouldn't you have fun in a job like this?

I'm pretty sure that he and the judge both know that Okrand's claim was a
fiction/joke and that this isn't a serious legal notion to be ruled upon.

~~~
chris_wot
I have a feeling there is double irony, because the attorney appears to have
been one of the attorneys who fought Prenda Law.

Prenda got smacked down pretty hard by a judge who decided to litter his
judgement with Star Trek quotes.[1]

1\. [http://abovethelaw.com/2013/05/prenda-boldly-benchslapped-
wh...](http://abovethelaw.com/2013/05/prenda-boldly-benchslapped-where-no-one-
has-gone-before/)

------
saizai
See also LCS press release:
[http://conlang.org/axanar/](http://conlang.org/axanar/)

Disclosure: I founded the LCS, directed our participation as amicus in this
case, and am press contact for this issue. Marc Randazza wrote the awesome
amicus brief (linked in OP) pro bono.

~~~
busterarm
Mark Randazza the same lawyer who installed malware on peoples' computers and
tried to extort money from them for illegally downloading gay porn?

[https://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/2015/07/09/marc-randazza-
mu...](https://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/2015/07/09/marc-randazza-must-
pay-600k-for-clear-and-serious-breaches-of-fiduciary-duty-against-his-former-
client/) [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/how-copyright-
law...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/how-copyright-lawyer-marc-
randazza-got-famous-lost-friends-and-went-broke/)

(ransomware, even - of the 'pay me $4k within 30 days or I'll disable your
computer' variety...it doesn't get any more scummy)

~~~
shkkmo
I don't see anything in either of those articles about installing malware on
people's computers. They do paint a pretty dire picture of his ethics though.

~~~
busterarm
I used to work in the antimalware industry and personally encountered
ransomware samples from Randazza Legal Group representing Corbin Fisher.

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plank
OK, so if Paramount loses (as I would expect), does this then mean that the
lawsuit between Oracle and Google around speaking the language 'Java' gets an
interesting precedent?

~~~
chris_wot
I can only imagine the difficulties and challenges faced by those folks who
could only ever speak in nouns.

Really, really long nouns in sentences stated very indirectly.

~~~
Vivtek
Don't underestimate the human capacity for circumlocution. The Hungarian
language has no word for "to have". Seriously. And they do just fine without
it.

~~~
saizai
Russian doesn't normally use a verb for 'to have' either. It's mainly
expressed as a preposition (_u_).

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calgoo
Is this a standard layout for a legal / court document? The lack of padding,
especially on the right side really bothers me while reading for some reason.

~~~
saizai
Compare plaintiff and defendant briefs if you like.
[https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzmetJxi-p0VZUJaQ2ZO...](https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzmetJxi-p0VZUJaQ2ZOYVZCQVk#list)
has all the filings.

~~~
deirdresm
Thanks! I added an index here:

[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11698292/pvax/index.html](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11698292/pvax/index.html)

~~~
saizai
That's very neat. Could you email me (eg press@conlang.org) so we can
collaborate / keep updated?

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if_by_whisky
ITT: IANAL ad nauseum

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dreamling
Does this have ramifications for Tolkien Elvish?

~~~
saizai
Applies to any conlang, including Quenya et al.

