In the complaint, which was filed last week in the Superior Court of the State of California, Santa Monica-based Activision accuses Viacom of breaching a contract signed in 1998.
The lawsuit charges that:
"Activision cannot successfully develop and sell Star Trek video games without the product exploitation and support promised by Viacom. A continuing pipeline of movie and television production, and related marketing, is absolutely crucial to the success of video games based on a property such as Star Trek."
Through its actions and inactions, Activision accuses Viacom of letting "the once proud Star Trek franchise stagnate and decay."
Viacom has released only one Star Trek movie since entering into the 1998 agreement with Activision and recently informed Activision that it has no current plans for further Star Trek films after the box-office flop of "Star Trek: Nemesis".
Viacom is also accused of having allowed two Star Trek television series ("Voyager" and "Next Generation") to go off the air. The remaining series, "Enterprise," suffers from weak ratings.
Activision has terminated the agreement and filed a complaint seeking to recover the damages it claims it has suffered and will suffer as a result of Viacom's alleged failure to abide by its agreement, and its stated intention to continue to breach its agreement, and seeks the return of the warrants now wrongfully in Viacom's possession.