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George Lucas C&Ds 'Lightsaber Laser'
dward90 writes "George Lucas thinks that bulky, handheld lasers shouldn't be produced because they are his intellectual property. From CNN: 'George Lucas wants to force a laser company to stop making a new, high-powered product he says looks too much like the famous lightsaber from his classic sci-fi series.
Lucasfilm Ltd. has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Hong Kong-based Wicked Lasers, threatening legal action if it doesn't change its Pro Arctic Laser series or stop selling it altogether.'"
These lightsabers are toys. Not real inventions.
The concept of this non-functioning object is taken from the movie....
Helicopters, communication devices, and other thought of ideas became inventions that could not really be disputed. It's because those inventions were a concept the -author could not make- into reality
I'm pretty sure george lucas could have financed and made the same/similar toys if he felt like it.
Now I'm not saying that i agree with this action. Consider it like this: you have to pay the owner of the "Gundam" name in order to call a humanoid robot machine a "Gundam" the same probably is going to be argued with these lightsaber toys.
As stated in the article, the company has made similar devices before. Only this time it was intended to look like a lightsaber.
That looks like Slashdot is guilty of the crime here, as that editor misrepresented Wicked Lasers product in a trademark infringing way. Wicked Laser made no such statement.
It's funny because Lucas is even quoted as admitting this fact in the article!
He knows it is gizmodo and the other blogs misrepresenting the product, but he still doesn't want to sue the ones doing the wrong, just another company that never once made such a comparison.
Lucas is still a dick however.