Copyright Does Not Protect the Klingon Language, Court Hears

TF's copyright reporting is often good, but this headline is silly clickbait, if technically accurate. The defendants argued that copyright does not protect these things, but the court hasn't ruled on the issue. Most readers won't parse the technical distinction between "court hears" and "court holds."

I think it's unfortunate that Paramount is going after the defendants, but I think this is a pretty tough case for the Axanar folks to make in most cases. I can't imagine Lucas or Disney taking too kindly to claims that they don't own the rights to the Jedi and the word 'lightsaber'. That stuff is brand names and trade dress, certainly within the realms of copyright.

The question of the Klingon language is a more nuanced and interesting one to me, though. I doubt that there's a precedent for a corporation owning a spoken language.