Star Trek: Discovery: Anas Abdin Provides New Update on His Tardigrades Lawsuit Against CBS
John F. Trent
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Anas Abdin provided a new update on his Tardigrades lawsuit against CBS’s Star Trek: Discovery. Abdin announced he was suing CBS in August of last year claiming that CBS had lifted his ideas from his point and click Tardigrades game and put them into Star Trek: Disocvery. Abdin specifically pointed to his idea of how a Tardigrade can be used interstellar travel. He would also point to the relationship of Hugh Colber and Paul Stamets in Star Trek: Discovery to his characters Aziz and Maciek.
YouTuber Nerdrotic provides a succinct recap of the lawsuit.
Over the weekend, Abdin provided an update about the lawsuit on his blog.
⚖️ !protectable [Tardigrades Lawsuit Update] https://t.co/ohHKcivktH #gamedev #pixelart #indiegames #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #indiegamedev #screenshotsaturday pic.twitter.com/AeOaDz6Nfz
— ˹Anas Abdin˼ 💾 (@AnasAbdin) March 23, 2019
Abdin notes in his post that CBS admitted to copying his game writing, “They partially admitted access and copying but that they copied the “de minimis” (the allowable amount) and “Scènes à faire” (common scenes in a specific genre or theme).” He explains they made this argument after they said “they did nothing wrong and that my complaint (the lawsuit) is frivolous (which the court later ruled in my favor for this part).”
After admitting they copied his work, notes CBS’ lawyers Wook Hwang and Jonathan Zavin then argued “that what they copied has no similarities.” He then notes that CBS is now arguing, “that they did not copy because we came with our ideas independently.”
Abdin believes CBS has “mislead the court with irrelevant cases while contradicting themselves to a pathetic point.” He then attempts to turn CBS’ arguments on their head claiming that Star Trek can’t be protected:
“Based on Wook’s arguments, my elements are not protectable, so thesame goes with theirs. None of their material is protectable (Scènes à faire). None of their Star Trek material is protectable. This means (from their arguments) that anyone can create a work with the same bridge crew and the spore-drive and the giant tardigrade navigator.”
He would point to Fox’s The Orville:
“Does that mean The Orville had protection from the beginning and is not treated as a parody? Because honestly, The Orville did not even get close to any of those specific elements from Star Trek as Star Trek Discoverydid to my Tardigrades game.”
Abdin concludes his post believing that CBS is intentionally trying to damage their own Star Trek franchise in order to win the lawsuit:
“Sometimes I feel puzzled how Wook’s arguments go past CBS’ law department, unless their intention is to damage the IP of the Star Trek franchise to win their battle with me. So far, this is what seems to be going on.”
YouTuber Nick Rekieta of Rekieta Law discussed the lawsuit earlier this month, where he noted that CBS has been very resistant to discovery that could potentially show that CBS had accessed his Tardigrades development files.
Rekieta’s discussion of the Tardigrades case begins around the 43 minute mark:
What do you make of Abdin’s update? Do you think CBS is intentionally trying to road block him? Do you think Abdin is right to sue CBS?
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