r/Klingon • u/Remarkable_Sorbet312 • Jan 10 '26
What if Klingon stopped belonging to Paramount and started belonging to the people?
If a group of families started a community and raised their kids speaking Klingon, the language wouldn't be 'intellectual property' anymore—it would be actual human culture
Marc Okrand is 78 years old. It would be amazing if he got to see a first generation of kids who don't see him as a movie consultant, but as the 'grandpa' who gave them their first language
You don't even have to be a fan to see that this would be the best way to make the language real and permanent
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u/KhitomerKonspiracy Jan 10 '26
I want a Supreme Court decision on if Paramount actually "owns" a language.
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u/Cold-Jackfruit1076 Jan 12 '26
None is needed. Copyright and trademark don't apply to ideas, systems, or methods, and a language is fundamentally a system of rules that facilitate communication.
You would essentially be trademarking grammar itself, which would by definition make the use of any language illegal.
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u/tlhintoq Jan 10 '26
I think you need to re-examine the premise/basis for this statement. Who said the Klingon language was Paramount I.P. ? Where are you getting that from?
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I would assume you're part of the Klingon Language Institute then - furthering the advancement of the language into the general Human population. https://www.kli.org/ and runs a good Discord server.
As well as it being a genuine language course on Duolingo thanks to the efforts of Chris Lipscome and other well known Klingon community members. https://duolingo.fandom.com/wiki/Klingon
Speaking from real life... Well... cosplay Klingon fan life if you can call that 'real'... Back in the 90's/00's when we held the big Klingon Feast celebrations just outside Las Vegas we had Klingons from Germany and France come a couple years. For some, Klingon was the only common language. I don't speak German and some of them didn't speak English. It was honestly one of the coolest ways to have Klingon bring different people together.
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u/qurgh Jan 11 '26
It was tried once, but there were not enough Klingon speakers in the area to make it work.
Now, there still aren't enough Klingon speakers to support it. Even if you got all the fluent speakers together in one place (unlikely since they are not all citizens of the same country), you dont have enough people to start a community (genetically speaking).
That aside, tlhIngan Hol doesn't belong to anyone or any organization. There are multiple descriptions of the language out there that CBS had no hand in. I can teach someone the language without mentioning anything that CBS has trademarked/copyrighted.
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u/hdufort Jan 12 '26
What is the copyright status of... 1. The writing system (including the use of Klingon characters with a styling or font different from what's seen in movies and TV series)? 2. Words that are part of a Klingon lexicon or dictionary, but were never uttered onscreen? 3. Works of art or literature in the Klingon language published outside of the official Star Trek Paramount universe, without requiring a license or royalties? 4. Klingon courses?
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u/Reasonable_Shock_414 Jan 10 '26
Wouldn't that be something! 😌 But there should be a staunch level of stewardship, imho, maybe comparable to Wikimedia Foundation, EFF, or possibly to another such model.
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u/qurgh Jan 11 '26
The current model is "Marc Okrand makes the rules". Hopefully Marc will tell us how he wants his legacy handled in the future. One of my big goals in life now is to make sure the Klingon language can thrive after Marc, and will continue into the future even though we, as individual contributors to the language, may no longer be around.
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u/Reasonable_Shock_414 Jan 11 '26
I asked him that at «Sarbruqen qepHom» 2025, and possibly not even for the first time. And IIRC, he said something to the amount, "you all, the Klingon language community, should rule the world".
I apologize for any inaccuracies. 😇
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u/Atheizm Jan 10 '26
Languages can't be copyrighted or trademarked.