Free Lightsaber Event Now Battling Lucasfilm's Lawyers (siliconbeat.com)

For eight years the arts collective Newmindspace had been staging free lightsaber battles, and in December they set a world record with 9,951 "combatants" simultaneously participating in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Seattle. But then in January they received a letter from the copyright attorneys for the Star Wars franchise. "We immediately stopped using the words 'lightsaber,' 'Jedi,' 'Sith' and 'The Force,' " the group's co-founder told the technology blog of the San Jose Mercury News, saying they've still been "aggressively pursued" for the last three months. '''In March we received further communication stating 'The Light Battle Tour' and 'light sword' were still too close to their trademarks, and we moved to settle the dispute to avoid legal action." Their new solution involves referring to the weapons as "catblades", and they've re-branded their upcoming series of events (which begins on April 30 in San Jose) as the "Cats in Space Tour".

Comments

PR idiots

[Anonymous Coward]

I would have sponsored the event, it's obvious that there is a huge following of fans there.

Good

[110010001000]

You are supposed to be creative. Come up with your own stories. Enough with Star Wars.

Re:Good

[darthsilun]

If someone spends a {week,month,year} creating something, at least they're actually creating something.
My daughter makes costumes for herself and her husband. Often they are characters from a movie, but sometimes from a book. Last year I helped her make a metal belt buckle for her Gamora costume.
Don't be dissing people for the things they like. Who are you to judge? And if they're making something, that's extra cool.

Re:Good

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Look, if they were actually making something interesting, creating something new, that would be one thing. But they're just imitating things that others created.

So what? Let them be fans and get their rocks off over what they like. It's not my thing, but lots of things aren't my thing, and you know what? I'm okay with it.

What I find petty and grasping is when a creator feels like he or she is owed money every time mention is made of something they created. Note to creators: fans are what MADE you popular, cut them some slack FFS. Stop being such greedy, grasping dollar whores. You've made your millions, relax a little and enjoy your money without being such a bunch of robot-like revenue-seeking pricks.

Fair Use

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, so their business strategy for keeping their business is to gain revenue from fans by alienating fans.
This is quite a novel approach to business. Ok then. If they can dictate what English words other people should use, then i will dictate how my money that i created will be used.
I won't buy anything Star Wars ever again, and will only pirate any and all media they get out.
Two for two.

Not really

[JBMcB]

Lucas used to hand out free IP licenses all the time. He let people make amateur films based on Star Wars. You just sent him a letter asking for permission and you usually got it. As long as you aren't making loads of money off of it he didn't care.