Lucasfilms Nixes Star Wars Live Screening

An anonymous reader writes "The Seattle PI has an article about Lucasfilms sending a cease and desist letter to a local Seattle-based theater company. The company had been planning to do a live parody of Star Wars in which they would turn off the sound and redub it live. This brings up the question are parodies fair use? And if so, should copyright holders be allowed to order people not to parody their work?"

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[reporter]

If the theater in Seattle conducted a parody by using its own set of actors, then there should not be a problem. However, the theater is actually using the original film without paying Lucas any royalties.

Lucas' response is understandable. Pirates copied both "Star Wars I" and "Star Wars II". Bootlegged copies were on sale in China (which includes Taiwan province and Hong Kong) before even the official debut in American theaters. Lucas, his employees, and all the actors/actresses lost billions of dollars to piracy.

Personally, I have met Chinese who regularly purchase pirated computer software, music, and movies. They literally laugh at Lucas and his employees.

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[Anonymous Coward]

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