Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Lucasfilm files lawsuit against “New York Jedi” operator. According to the suit, Michael Brown and co. “willfully continued their infringing activities” despite receiving cease and desists letters and license requests being denied.
The copyright attorneys are real and, honestly, they have a pretty good case here. There’s a lot of fan activity out there – and has been for decades – but there are limits to what you can do with someone else’s’ intellectual property.
The Force Awakens production company, Foodles Production, has pled guilty in the hydraulic door accident that injured Harrison Ford during the filming of The Force Awakens. The weight of the door was compared to that of a “small car.”
Ford broke two bones in his left leg in the incident and was airlifted to a hospital. Foodles will be sentenced on August 22.
The saga of Harrison Ford’s broken leg gets a legal postscript. The U.K.’s Health And Safety Executive has brought criminal charges up against The Force Awakens production company, Foodles, in connection with the June 2014 incident at Pinewood Studios.
Per Courthouse News Service, Lucasfilm has filed a subpoena request against ImageShack, where user “Darth_Simi” has posted a gallery of leaked photos and supposed concept art.
Interestingly, Simi’s gallery does not seem to be the source of many of the images – they’ve also posted the set shots from TMZ, Greenham Commons aerial shots, the set shot from the Abu Dhabi newspaper plus cast paparazzi and red carpet pics from sources like Getty. (And didn’t the biggest batch of concept leaks actually come from millenniumfalcon.com?)
An image explicitly mentioned in the filing, which was our first look at the broadsaber that we saw in the teaser trailer, actually originates with and is watermarked by Star Wars Underworld, who has since removed it. There are other leaks that they could pursue as well without verifying them, such as the stormtrooper helmets.
However, Simi’s gallery is one of the most complete ones I’ve seen in terms of the various photo leaks, so I can see why Lucasfilm would want it gone, even if it is ‘just’ a collection. It’s practically a (visual) one-stop spoiler shop.
I’m not at all familiar with CNS as a news source, but if there’s any truth to this, I expect we’ll be seeing a lot less leaked art from here on out. Maybe that’s the point of the whole endeavor – not to take out the actual leakers, just to scare them enough that they don’t do it again. Say what you will about a site like Making Star Wars that’s generally only describing stuff, but it would take one a LONG time to go through all of what Jason and company have posted – far longer than an image gallery. (via)
Here’s an interesting tidbit from the Wall Street Journal‘s Deal Journal blog: The Las Vegas Mob Experience, a museum devoted to organized crime, filed for bankruptcy on Monday – and Star Wars seems to be one reason why. A real estate developer used money from the mob museum to fund (no joking) Order 66 Entertainment LLC, which was created to bring the Where Science meets Imagination exhibit to Vegas.
Seriously, how often do you see Revenge of the Sith cited on a non-LFL legal document?
Lucasfilm had one of those up and down days in the UK courts.
They lost their appeal of a prior rejection in the UK courts against Andrew Ainsworth and his stormtrooper helmet replicas. In short, the stormtrooper helmets were considered to be utilitarian and not artistic (since they were used as a costume for a movie), so the “antiquated” UK copyright laws did not apply.
But, on the upside, Bloomberg says that this has established that companies can sue to enforce copyrights held in other countries. Corporate lawyers everywhere rejoice.
Fake-pundit fun. Stephen Colbert blasted Mike Huckabee for his comments on Natalie Portman’s pregnancy. “Look, I’m no fan of single mothers either. But it’s Natalie Portman we’re talking about. That kid she’s pregnant with is Luke Skywalker,” Colbert said. “So logically, if you’re against her pregnancy that means you’ve aligned yourself politically with Emperor Palpatine. You’re alienating all of Tatooine. It’s a swing planet.” Of course Tatooine is a swing planet.
Serious matters. An atheist group in the U.K. has launched a campaign to convince folks not to write down “Jedi” on their census forms as a joke. No word on how they feel about ‘real’ Jedi. (via)
Legal. Lucasfilm is back in court again – the British Supreme Court this time – over the Shepperton studios stormtrooper replicas.
Random. Harrison Ford is helping to develop a Facebook game. Okay, so it’s an environmentally-concious Facebook game… But it’s still a Facebook game. Which I guess is better than watching him get his chest waxed again.
In the wake of two futile C&Ds, Lucasfilm has filed a $5M trademark lawsuit against Jedi Mind, Inc., a company which “touts a wireless headset that detects brainwaves on both a conscious and non-conscious level.” But apparently they lack the foresight to talk to a lawyer before formally naming their company. (via)
Ashley Eckstein is getting some ink for Her Universe in the most unlikely of places: ESPN! I don’t doubt being married to an MLB player helps widen the field of interest, but let’s not forget we’re the only fandom with a noteworthy gender disparity. (Sports-loving ladies can see the Alyssa Milano line that Ashley mentions as an inspiration at Fandalia.)
Not the lawsuit you’re looking for… Lucasfilm has backed down from their legal threat against Wicked Lasers, which makes a (you have to admit) very lightsaber-looking laser. But elsewhere in the world, the march continues…
Horrors of the audition tapes. Sylvester Stallone auditioned for Han Solo? Sounds like he didn’t get far enough for tapes, but that’s probably a good thing.
Presented without commentary. Are Jedi Knights Libertarian or Socialist?