Abrams directed the first two Star Trek reboot movies and is producing the third one for Paramount; he says he convinced the studio to drop its controversial lawsuit against Axanar, a crowdfunded fan-film (a suit that included a dubious claim about the copyrightability of the Klingon language) telling them that the lawsuit “wasn’t an appropriate way to deal with the fans.”

Abrams cited director Justin Lin’s fannish sympathies as a key reason to drop the suit.

It’s not clear whether Paramount actually dropped the suit, or whether they’re in settlement talks with Axanar.

Fortunately, as he’s been insisting since taking the job, the fans have one of their own on the inside in the form of director Justin Lin. He was apparently instrumental in getting Paramount and CBS to change course. Said Abrams: “A few months back there was a fan movie and this lawsuit that happened between the studio and these fans, and Justin was sort of outraged by this as a longtime fan. We started talking about it and realized this wasn’t an appropriate way to deal with the fans. The fans of Star Trek are part of this world. We went to the studio and pushed them to stop this lawsuit. Within a few weeks, it’ll be announced that this lawsuit is going away.”