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+--- Thread: This is silly (/showthread.php?tid=5883)
This is silly - Dark Jaguar - 23rd July 2010
http://insidetech.monster.com/news/articles/8793-george-lucas-angry-about-real-life-lightsaber-threatens-to-sue
There's two things I want to say about this. Firstly, this is just a really powerful laser. It's actually frightening. The thing sounds more dangerous than a fire arm. It's not a light saber.
However, the second point is more important. Lucas may own the copyright for light sabers in their use in FICTION, but he doesn't own the PATENT for them, because THEY AREN'T REAL. IF someone down the line actually manages to invent one, Lucas would have NO grounds for a lawsuit, because he won't be able to show any schematics or a functioning light saber to back up his claim that he "invented" it first. Copyright and patent are two different things.
Someone who imagines some fictional device, but who only imagines it's function, not in any way aware of how the thing could ever actually work, has no claim to patent over someone who actually does all the engineering work and invents the device in reality. Paramount couldn't sue someone for inventing a transporter.
This is silly - Dark Lord Neo - 23rd July 2010
Lucas isn't claiming that they can't make a lightsaber like device. His claim is based on the idea that the handle for this device has been purposely modeled to look like the handle of the lightsabers form his movies. He doesn't have a patent on the technological aspects of lightsabers but he can hold a patent on the aesthetic appearance of the lightsabers in his movies.
So what this case is going to end up being about is whether this companies product really does resemble the aesthetic appearance of the handles that Lucas claims he has a patent for.
This is silly - Great Rumbler - 23rd July 2010
Yep, DLN got it.
This is silly - Darunia - 23rd July 2010
So what is it... just a glorified laser-pointer?
This is silly - Weltall - 23rd July 2010
Quote:So what is it... just a glorified laser-pointer?It's several hundred times more powerful than the laser pointers you used in high school to piss off kids across the cafeteria. If used improperly, you can cause serious and permanent damage to yourself or someone else.
All that aside, Lucas will not win this lawsuit unless he can conclusively prove two things:
1: That the design of this device matches a specific design to which he holds a copyright. He does not own proactive rights to all possible variations of lightsaber handle designs.
2: That it was designed with the specific intent to be marketed as if it were affiliated with the Star Wars franchise.
Neither of these will happen, and furthermore, Lucas could only copyright the name 'lightsaber' and any specific visual designs related to it. He cannot copyright a fictional concept, any more than Paramount could copyright the concept of a starship or its warp drive. Lightsaber-like objects appear in many works of fiction entirely unrelated to George Lucas properties, two examples being Mega Man and Silent Hill 3.
This seems like Lucas either followed some spotty legal advice, or he intends to use his superior resources to force a settlement. Either way, it's horse shit.
This is silly - Dark Jaguar - 23rd July 2010
Weltall gets it.
This is silly - Darunia - 24th July 2010
I bet he'll win anyway.
This is silly - Great Rumbler - 24th July 2010
I bet it'll never go to court.
This is silly - Dark Jaguar - 25th July 2010
You're probably right. My question is this. Why is it that so many companies sue in obviously idiotic lawsuits for things like this? I mean, even the most cursory examination should tell them they can't win, and further there's usually very little they could hope to "win" from such things (Monster Cable suing any and every company with "Monster" in their name comes to mind). It just seems like someone in that company isn't keeping their lawyers in check.
This is silly - Weltall - 25th July 2010
It doesn't matter that they can't win. What matters is relative size. Lucas most certainly has much more in the way of resources on his side. Defending yourself in a legal fight is very expensive, and there's usually little hope of recompense even if you win.
Essentially, the lawsuit is really just a bluff that means "We want you to settle with us because we can bleed you dry."
This is silly - Darunia - 25th July 2010
George Lucas, especially, seems to be constantly involved in this manner of lawsuit. It really makes me hate the son of a bitch. He's a fucking quadrillionnaire. Most of his ideas came from elsewhere (doesn't that pod race in Episode I seem a little bit familiar, Ben Hur?). He's a jackass and as a person I would as soon spit on him as shake his hand.
This is silly - A Black Falcon - 2nd August 2010
So now he's rethinking his lawsuit, with some lame excuses for why. :)
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/08/02/light.saber.laser/index.html?hpt=Sbin