All About Estates
By Jacob Kaufman, August 7th, 2019
Gene Roddenberry is widely known as the mind behind Star Trek but less well known is his ugly estate litigation fight that centered around the definition of “Star Trek.”
Mr. Roddenberry and his first wife Eileen Roddenberry divorced in 1969. As part of their divorce settlement, Mrs. Roddenberry received a “one-half interest in all future profit participation income from `Star Trek’ to which [Mrs. Roddenberry] and/or [Gene Roddenberry] are entitled.” However, the agreement did not define “Star Trek.” Mr. Roddenberry then married his second wife (and Star Trek actor), Majel Barrett.
In the 1980s Mrs. Roddenberry commenced a proceeding against Mr. Roddenberry and his corporation – stating that she had not been provided with her proper share of the profits of the original Star Trek television show (despite the language of the agreement, Mr. Roddenberry had been sending one-third, rather than one-half, of the profits). She also, however, claimed that she should receive a profit from the other Star Trek properties that had been spawned by the original.
At the time of the divorce there was only one “Star Trek” – the original television show. By the time the litigation was commenced the original Star Trek had multiple iterations: one animated television series, two live action TV shows and six movies (to say nothing of numerous books and merchandise). There have since been three additional live action TV shows and seven more movies – and even more are coming. Mrs. Roddenberry claimed that the term “Star Trek” in the settlement was intended to refer to all future exploitations of the Star Trek concept. Mr. Roddenberry countered that “Star Trek” meant only the original TV show “Star Trek”.
At the time, no one thought that a failed television series would ever have any form of spin-off…
In the course of the litigation, Mr. Roddenberry passed away and the litigation was carried on by his estate trustee, Ms. Barrett (i.e. his second wife). The trial court held that Mrs. Roddenberry was not entitled to receive profit sharing from Star Trek-related animations, movies, or merchandising but was entitled to receive profit sharing from the original Star Trek series and any “successors, sequels and spin-offs” – as these were “continuations” of the original Star Trek. The trial court also ordered punitive damages against Mr. Roddenberry’s corporation for giving Ms. Roddenberry only one third of the profits of the original Star Trek (under California law punitive damages could not be awarded against an estate).
Jacob Kaufman, de VRIES LITIGATION LLP
