Star Ballz Trumps Lucas

baby_head_rush writes: "The company that created pr0n cartoon Star Ballz won in court. George Lucas and company lost their first bid to stop its sale. A judge with some common sense. There is 'little likelihood of confusion' between Star Wars and Star Ballz." Not for young eyes.

Comments

Isn't that Goku?

[taliver]

If you go to the screenshots, I'd swear that was Goku. It seems that DragonBall Z would have a bigger claim to infringement.

And I must admit, it does look really stupid.

*closing eyes*

[Dan Crash]

I sense a grave disturbance in the force.

Things you never want to hear in a porn movie:

[parliboy]

"Luke, I am your father."

Re:Things you never want to hear in a porn movie:

[Dan Crash]

"When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not. Hmm?"

Re:Things you never want to hear in a porn movie:

[SuiteSisterMary]

You've never seen THE LIST?

"Star Wars IV: A New Hope"

1. "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid."
2. "Curse my metal body, I wasn't fast enough!"
3. "Look at the size of that thing!"
4. "Sorry about the mess..."
5. "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought."
6. "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?"
7. "You've got something jammed in here real good."
8. "Put that thing away before you get us all killed!"
9. "Luke, at that speed do you think you'll be able to pull out in time?"
10. "Get in there you big furry oaf, I don't care *what* you smell!"

"Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back"

1. "And I thought they smelled bad...on the *outside*!"
2. "Possible he came in through the south entrance."
3. "I must've hit it pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh, kid?"
4. "Hurry up, golden-rod..."
5. "That's okay, I'd like to keep it on manual control for a while."
6. "But now we must eat. Cum, good food, cummm..."
7. "Control, control! You must learn control!"
8. "There's an awful lot of moisture in here."
9. "Size matters not. Judge me by my size, do you?"
10. "I thought that hairy beast would be the end of me!"

"Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi"

1. "Rise, my friend."
2. "Open the back door!"
3. "Hey, point that thing somewhere else!"
4. "It's just a dead animal..."
5. "Not bad for a little furball."
6. "How can they be jamming us if they don't know we're coming?"
7. "Come here, I won't hurt you. You want something to eat?"
8. "Keep on that one, I'll take these two."
9. "I want you to take her. I mean it, take her!"
10. "I don't think the Empire had wookies in mind when they designed her, Chewie."

Top ten sexually tilted lines from the trilogy

10. "What could possibly have come over Master Luke?"
9. "Hey, point that thing someplace else."
8. "You're a jittery little thing, aren't you?"
7. "I never knew I had it in me."
6. "Someone must've told them about my little maneuver at the battle of Taanab."
5. "There is good in him, I've felt it."
4. "Grab me, Chewie. I'm slipping -- hold on. Grab it, almost...you almost got it. Gently now, all right, easy, easy, hold me, Chewie. Chewie!" (Han) with "A little higher, just a little higher."
3. "Short help's better than no help at all."
2. "Hey, Luke, thanks for coming after me -- now I owe you one."
1. "Back door, huh? Good idea!"

What I want to know is...

[Corgha]

did Judge Claudia Wilken have to watch both movies to determine that there was little chance of confusion?

Parody & IP

[jaavaaguru]

Lucasfilm's spokeswoman said "This is a pornographic cartoon utilizing Star Wars intellectual property. We feel strongly that the law does not allow for parody to be a defense to a pornographic use of someone else's intellectual property, especially when that use is directed to children."

But regardless of being pornographic or now, people are allowed to use intellectual property for parody purposes, which is clearly what Star Ballz is doing. Well done to the Judge for not taking sides with the big corporation, but instead choosing what is right for people's freedom.

Lucas might want to make a deal with these guys...

[Tickenest]

because whatever it is that "Star Ballz" is gonna be, from the looks of things, it's going to be better than Episode 2!

one-sentence movie review

[kitts]

Star Ballz: The plot, dialogue and characterization are no better than Episode 1, but at least the chicks get naked.

Sailor Moon as well

[BoneFlower]

Sailor Moon as Princess Leia..

Great.

[martij2]

This is so stupid, I can't even make myself sit through the preview. If Lucas hadn't sued odds are no one would have even heard of this.

Re:Am I the only one?

[Quixote]

Am I the only one?

Probably. Next question?

Porn protected, political speech not.

[Erris]

Woopy, the right to make a buck prevails again. The government has protected a purveyor of porn against another movie maker in a squable over who owns darth vader. So what? It's a victory, but not a usefull one. Feel free to parody fantisy to your heart's content, just make sure you might be making money at it.

Far more serious free speech issues are going the wrong way. How about accademic freedom? The University of South Florida is canning a computer science teacher for saying bad things about Israel (see this Salon story). How about DeCSS? How about encryption rights? How about Digital Rights Denial? In all matters of real importance, the US federal government has proved itself wrong headed recently. So while the publishing giants feel free to swear on the public airways they own, place naked people on billboards, and do whatever else they think they can to make a buck, you and me are being stripped of the right to utter dissaproval in any meaningful way. Your comminications will be monitored (carnivore and local ISP caches), your house will be searched unreasonably(USA and Patriot acts), your property will be confiscated (standard proceedure), and you will be quiet.

"Directed to children"

[Robotech_Master]

What gets me is the "directed to children" bit. Um, what? Where does it say that the parody is directed to children? On the Star Ballz website, where there's a clear "this website contains material unsuitable for those under 18" disclaimer? By watching the thing? (Oh, wait, no, they didn't, did they?)

I know! It's because it's animated, and as everybody knows, animated vids are only for kids, regardless of content! Ha ha, right, all those Mangle Video animes with people getting naked (and peoples' brains getting shot out) that they release instead of getting around to Giant Robo are all to keep the little kiddies entertained!

Bleah. That mindset makes me sick.

Re:"Directed to children"

[Robotech_Master]

No, it's a quite clearly-written sentence. There are no dangling or misplaced modifiers; it quite clearly conveys a message. I read it over several times before I posted; there can be no mistaking. (Whether she misspoke and meant to say that Star Wars was directed to children, I'm not qualified to say--but the experience that I have had, as an anime fan, with the "anime is kiddie stuff" prejudice leads me to believe that she meant every word she said.)

The article says (emphases mine) "a pornographic use of someone else's intellectual property, especially when that use is directed to children." The word "use" is used only once in the sentence prior to "that use," thus, "that use" modifies "a pornographic use".

If she'd said "when that property is directed to children," she could have been referring to Lucas's IP, which is to say, Star Wars. But it is grammatically quite clear that she is referring to the pornographic use--the Star Ballz anime--as having been directed to children. That is to say, made with children as a target audience.

Which is clearly quite stupid, but apparently there are still people out there who believe that anything animated is meant for kids. And unfortunately, some of them are even judges.