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Stormtrooper in Court! Plus George meets countersuit from hell!

#1 User is offline   Toru-chan Icon

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Post icon  Posted 09 April 2008 - 03:45 AM

Poor George Lucas must have fallen on hard times. He's reduced to suing a replica artist to pay the rent:

QUOTE
George Lucas, creator of the blockbuster intergalactic sagas, and his billion-dollar merchandising arm are suing Andrew Ainsworth, a small-scale prop designer who sells replicas of the film characters from his southwest London studio.

Lucasfilm and related parties have already won a 2006 court case against Ainsworth in California, where the judge awarded the firm $US20 million ($A21.63 million) in damages, and they are now seeking to have a similar ruling enforced in Britain.

http://www.theage.co...7420426829.html

The article seems to have had a bit cut out of it, but seems Ainsworth was the original person to work on the helmet. Now that Lucas is suing him, Ainsworth has filed a countersuit claiming (as is usually the case with works of art) the copyright stays with the artist. (Yes, Lucas won in America, but everyone knows American courts go with the money. wink.gif Don't believe me? Just ask OJ sad.gif.

Anyway, I figure George is rich as rich can be, so on this one I'd like to see it go Ainsworth's way just for the lulz! I wonder? AinsworthLucasfilm or LucasAinsworthfilm? Imagine the cats bum look on George's face as he debates this with his new business partner? smile.gif

This post has been edited by Toru-chan: 09 April 2008 - 03:52 AM

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#2 User is offline   civilian_number_two Icon

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Posted 09 April 2008 - 04:20 AM

I don't agree. It seems that Lucas had employed conceptual artists to design the things, and this guy to build them. You might as well allow a construction foreman the rights to sell the blueprints he works from. At least, that's the Lucas argument. There's a chance he's lying.

In unrelated copyright news, JK Rowling is suing some dude for creating an encyclopedia of her works. In that case I side with the creator of the encyclopedia. I am sure the law will disagree, but I see his work as an original study of her copyrighted works, like a review or a magazine article. If she's interested in producing her own rival encyclopedia, she should. But to say he's not allowed to strikes me as abusing the privelege of copyright. All he has to do is put "unofficial" on the cover, IMO. And of course he's also limited in the extent to which he can cite her material. Really, he should have just asked for her permission (and forked over some dough), since she wasn't challenging him when he was making his work available for free on the Internet.

"I had a lot of different ideas. At one point, Luke, Leia and Ben were all going to be little people, and we did screen tests to see if we could do that." -George Lucas, in STAR WARS: the Annotated Screenplays (p197).
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#3 User is offline   TruJade Icon

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Posted 10 April 2008 - 06:02 PM


QUOTE (Toru-chan @ Apr 9 2008, 01:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Yes, Lucas won in America, but everyone knows American courts go with the money wink.gif . Don't believe me? Just ask OJ sad.gif.


I love how that never gets old laugh.gif

but seriously
Artist copyright disagreements are always tough

i just don't see why there has to be a courtbattle
can't they just duke it out, perhaps a game of chess?

Ainsworth was the original artist he should
have some rights of his own.

We can really only assume that Georgie boy still has billions
if not trillions maybe he just needs to keep busy

if the Clone Wars tv show/movie is successful . . .
theres a chance he will drop the suit

out of boredom and conflicting schedules

Duct tape is like the force....

There's a lightside, a darkside

and it holds everything together


There are too many people in the world...We need another plague -Dwight K. Shrute [The Office]
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#4 User is offline   njamilla Icon

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Posted 30 April 2008 - 04:17 PM

Isn’t an EP IV stormtrooper costume a work-for-hire creation?

I don’t know what the details of case specifically, but it doesn’t surprise me that GL’s lawyers were able to win the case.

Where does the 501st stand on this issue? Apparently they have all sorts of rules regarding the authenticity of costumes. A costume must be deemed authentic or they won’t allow the costume in their events. I’ve heard people call them stuck-up purists because of this. I asked a member about the new “officially sanctioned” stormtrooper costumes and she said that those costumes won’t be allowed in 501st events.
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#5 User is offline   Toru-chan Icon

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Posted 01 May 2008 - 09:06 PM

QUOTE (civilian_number_two @ Apr 9 2008, 07:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
IIn unrelated copyright news, JK Rowling is suing some dude for creating an encyclopedia of her works. In that case I side with the creator of the encyclopedia.


Orson Scott Card of "Ender's Game" wrote a good piece on this:
http://greensboro.rh...con_and_Oz.html
Rowlings fans were outraged at Uncle Orson's Commentary. Why is it when someone writes a good book some fans turn into slobbering acolytes snarling at anyone who denigrates their new God?

He's also written some good pieces on copyright law in the past too:
http://www.ornery.or...03-09-07-1.html
http://www.ornery.or...03-09-14-1.html

QUOTE
Since every penny I earn depends on copyright protection, I'm all in favor of reasonable laws to do the job. But there's something kind of sad about the recording industry's indecent passion to punish the "criminals" who are violating their rights.

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Posted 02 May 2008 - 02:23 AM

Well, he said more or less what I said, so I agree with him. I don't agree that there is any sort of fundamental similarity between the HARRY POTTER books and his novel ENDER'S GAME. He should have avoided the analogy and pretense of moral superiority, because ENDER'S GAME is nothing like HARRY POTTER. The series does have the similarity, however, that as it progresses it becomes oversentimental and complicated, with numerous ancillary characters and a weak central plot. It also has an outrageous copout at the end (of XENOCIDE) ... so maybe it is a lot like HARRY POTTER after all.
"I had a lot of different ideas. At one point, Luke, Leia and Ben were all going to be little people, and we did screen tests to see if we could do that." -George Lucas, in STAR WARS: the Annotated Screenplays (p197).
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#7 User is offline   Toru-chan Icon

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Posted 02 May 2008 - 04:34 AM

QUOTE (civilian_number_two @ May 2 2008, 05:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I don't agree that there is any sort of fundamental similarity between the HARRY POTTER books and his novel ENDER'S GAME. He should have avoided the analogy and pretense of moral superiority, because ENDER'S GAME is nothing like HARRY POTTER.

I didn't think for even a moment he was said it was (otherwise he'd have slapped Rowling's with his own IP suit). He was showing the preposterousness(*) of Rowling's argument by creating an equally silly one.

My own take: Rowlings has gone off the deep end. Interesting how some people handle fame and fortune. Some people aren't overly changed, but other people let it go to their head. They use their wealth as proof that everything the ever said, did or thought was correct.

Our own George has had his own issues. His problem is his inability to acknowledge a mistake: CGI *was* cool until he showed you could push it too far in TPM. They said the same thing about SFX in the 1970s. Why is too much SFX ok and too much CGI not? Probably because CGI lets directors go too far, but SFX by its expensive nature kept their visions in check with reality. Lucas has been reasonably aggressive going after fan material, until I guess he realised it didn't hurt but actually helped him. Rowling hasn't made that distinction. Here's an industry with its head screwed on properly: http://www.wired.com.../15-11/ff_manga

As for Rowlings: I tried to read the first Harry Potter, but it didn't do anything for me. The movies were watchable, but as escapism didn't do it for me. Kids and some adults love it I'm told. If they get a buzz, good for them. To each their own. But to me Rowling's style smacks horribly of Enid Blyton. Serve Rowlings right if Blyton's Estate sues her ass off. Larry Potter indeed! http://news.bbc.co.u...ent/1224264.stm

This post has been edited by Toru-chan: 02 May 2008 - 04:37 AM

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