Lucas loses Star Wars copyright case at Supreme Court

[jds1911a1]

I also disagree with this ruling. Forget about Lucas and his billions, now anyone who wants to remake any costume prop from a film released 15 years ago is allowed to according to this ruling. Something is not right about this.

I may be missing what your concerns are so please correct me but so what if someone want's to make a prop copy if they were the one who made the design. There have been resin kits of Aliens guns for decades but it wouldn't replace a movie used prop. The difference here is the quality is as good as the actual screen item. There have been licensed Indiana Jones fedoras for decades (and frankly the ones from the 80's were more accurate than the current ones) but none of them could replace a screen worn hat with provenance for those who want such items. I am a reenactor and even the most exact repro is not as desireable as a vintage item for a collector but the repro allows for the preservation of real artifacts while placating the masses who want to have one for fun.

recently I was watching reruns of Hollywood treasures and the guy who did all the leatherwork for the Naboo costumes, the 5th element, and even indy's coat was letting them auction off his stuff that was all film worn. The film production team got nothing from this sale.

[johnmiic]

OK, so he didn't make a decent agreement with this man. Well, settle out of court, pay some money, and make sure it doesn't happen again. He should have come to an agreement instead of sending in the Shock Troopers.

I agree it was Lucas's own arrogance which led to this. Rather than negotiating a license so both of them can make some money he figured he would squash the guy instead. The courts in the UK basically gave Lucas the finger in the eye. The owner almost always opts to say no rather than let someone put out new merchandise. In this case it is high quality stuff and very desirable. It wouldn't harm Lucasfilm to have these items out there. It would've been a better move to endorse the guy and have him on your team.

Sorry, I respect your opinions...this is just my own take on the matter, guys.

S'ok Hec. I'm not going to go all insane clown JP posse or geoffrude on you.

[huedell]

Lucas is too powerful for me to believe this case was initiated and/or
spearheaded by him anyway.

Odds are someone in his organization brought it to his attention and they
pursued it as a business entity as a mater of day-today LucasFilm business protection.

How anyone could hold this case against Lucas is beyond me.

[Brazoo]

^^^Look, I know George has made billions off Star Wars and even with the money this prop guy is raking in-it won't put a big dent in George's income. It still doesn't make it right for the guy to be pumping out high-end props. Just because George got rich off us doesn't make him wrong either. The second link seems to make a case that the guy is a liar as well. So maybe he didn't make the original props after all.

Now the case is settled more people will make high-end props and not just of Star Wars. All the sought-after sci-fi franchises will be up for grabs based on this ruling and that will impact all the big studios.

I don't think this case has set a new precedent or anything.

First of all, normally when someone is hired to make props for a movie there's a pretty clear-cut contract in place - especially regarding copyrights. In this instance the issue was that there was just an "implied agreement" - Lucas' company or Lucas himself was not protecting himself correctly - that's a key part of this case, no?


Second of all there's already a HUGE underground market for props. A lot of propmakers and hobbyists already make decent money turning out replicas just like this - and not even based on original molds - so I don't think a ruling in either way would make a difference to that underground market.

[Brazoo]

Need I remind you guys that we're on a site where people sell unlicensed and copyright violating merch ALL THE TIME.

In this issue I don't have any feelings for or against Lucas or his company - I believe that if you create something with that much impact on culture this is the kind of thing that is bound to happen.

Star Wars maybe © ILM but it's also part of our shared culture.

[Thor]

Poor Georgie...I hope he doesn't end up on skid row after this ruling...heaven forbid...

ROTFLMAO!!!

[Hector]