Star Wars in the news

George Lucas has been named Grand Marshall of next weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. He’s also participating in the 31st Annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race on Saturday.

Putting together the London Star Wars exhibit.

Star Wars is getting namechecked as movies in 3-D get press coverage, but remember, far as we know the saga in 3-D is still on hold.

Plans to make major additions to Skywalker Ranch (two screening rooms and a bridge) were approved by Marin County last month.

LFL wins lightsaber lawsuit

Suprise, suprise: Lucasfilm Ltd. is the victor in their court battle against High-Tech Magic, which sold unauthorized lightsaber replicas. The Maryland company has the privilege of paying LFL $250,000 (ouch!) and is banned from selling any facsimile of a lighted or glowing sword … and/or parts designed to enable others to build.”

Here’s the raw press release. Paranoid fans, pay special attention to Lucas Licensing President Howard Roffman on such matters: “Our goal is to go after and shut down businesses that are trying to make a profit off of creations and properties that do not belong to them.”