[tlhIngan Hol] Drafting Klingon press statement re Axanar lawsuit for LCS

[Sai]

Hello all.

You are probably aware by now of the LCS' amicus brief about
copyrightability of the Klingon language in the Paramount v Axanar
case: <http://conlang.org/axanar>

I'm drafting a press statement summarizing our involvement in the
case, its impact, the change in Paramount's position, why we used
pIqaD and humor in the brief, etc.

I would like to start the statement with a part in Klingon, saying
something to the effect of the following:

> Klingon is a rich language that cannot be controlled by IP law. We are glad that Paramount has, for now, backed down from claiming that speaking Klingon, by itself, is punishable in court. Paramount overreached; we successfully responded.


It does NOT need to be tied to the English source (though I'll need a
backtranslation); I simply want it to convey the basic ideas. This
should be on the interpretation end of the scale, not the 1:1
equivalence end, and I'm happy to have it changed to fit what would
work better in Klingon, use a Klingon pun, etc.

Ideally, it would:
* be done by end of day today (Pacific time)
* use some non-TKD words that are community-developed and -accepted
* use legal terms (like IP law or copyright) translated such that
they'd pass as reasonable to the community
* be about a paragraph long

A paragraph is long enough to prove that Klingon is not just for
random one-off phrases, while being short enough that it is likely to
be quoted.

This press release is likely to get very widely publicized, and I
would like the Klingon paragraph to be the leading summary. The point
of using Klingon in the press statement is to demonstrate by example
that it can be used to talk about things that are not merely
"describing life for a space-faring warrior race of aliens, or
satirizing Star Trek fans" — like the above.


If you're willing to help, please email me offlist, preferably with
your Google account email (if you have one), since the draft is in a
google doc.

It would also help to IM me directly; see accounts @ <https://s.ai/contact>.

I'm happy to give credit — or not — as preferred.


Separately from the above, if any of you have questions about the case
or our involvement in it, or about the LCS itself, I'd be happy to
answer them.

As I hope you understand, the amount that we are able to reach out
about legal filings before they're actually submitted in court is very
limited. The same goes for any legal strategy, decisions, etc. There
are issues of privilege, timing, and possible conflicts of interest.
We did not want to put KLI in a problematic position with Paramount by
being directly involved in our amicus curiae brief opposing them, when
KLI has an existing working arrangement that has avoided it being an
issue.

The translations in the first brief (the actual amicus) were done by
our lawyers, mainly using Bing. Yes, we know they're not good;
unfortunately, timing and the need to keep it within privilege
prevented a better review. However, the fact that one can comment on
the translations being wrong does go to prove the point that Klingon
is a real language.

The translations in reply on the renewal motion were done first by the
same method, then reviewed by Tony Harris and Joey Windsor.

If there are any issues in the future where our help would be useful,
please get in touch. <lcs at conlang.org> should work as a long-term
primary contact for most things.

For things related to any legal issues, including the Axanar case,
<press at conlang.org> is a better contact, as I receive press@ (but not
lcs@) email, and am the main person within LCS who handles such things
(short of actual legal advice or representation).

Sincerely,
Sai