A very sad situation

**james3** · 11-29-2006, 07:32 AM

**Firebird21** · 11-29-2006, 07:52 AM

He's going to piss off a lot of die-hard fans if he gets ****y with this crap...

One of GL's biggest faults is the relentless pursuit of money. (example: he’s a big supporter of the original Divix(?) where you had to pay every time you watched your own DVD.) I understand he's got to protect his investments, but I hope this doesn't start going to his head.

Edit: Tread lightly on this subject. You don't want to anger the Lucasfilms Gods. They are watching...

**supertrogdor** · 11-29-2006, 08:03 AM

they claimed to produce specifically trademarked items such as a StarWars LightSaber. Last i checked we were making an effort to have all references be to illuminated sabers and such in the store, and credit is given where credit is due i.e. mod your Master Replica saber into... and the like. I don't think we have too much to worry about.

**james3** · 11-29-2006, 08:27 AM

I actually saw this site before I found TCSS. I didn't think much of it because I wanted stuff that you could play with. Going back and looking at it he did have "Star Wars" used on the site pretty hard. I would think that the real problem is that they don't really know Jack Snitz. Graflex is spelled wrong, lightsaber is spelled wrong, and like they said using Darth Maul and other stuff I don't think they really knew much more then they could make a lighted tube and sell it as a "Star Wars" deal.

What concerns me more is what will come from it. There have been shots done here and there, some have been won some have been lost. The one thing that never changes is the ripple effect. SDS got nailed to the wall but the ripple effect of Simplicity pulling all their Star Wars styled patterns hurts the costumers even more.

It is not a perfect world, and there is a line in which seems rather tough to see clearly when it comes to this stuff. The RL and 501st are supported yet there seems to be an issue with "Infringers making bootleg merchandise for profit will not be tolerated."

I just hope that statement is not to far reaching.

Oh and I never did one of those Divix deals, though it was total Bullsnitz from the get go.

**Dregan** · 11-29-2006, 11:06 AM

IMHO, I think Stryder, Corbin and Erv should be OK, as their products allow someone to bui;d their own props. But if I were Ultra or that other guy who's name I can't remember, where they sell mostly completed sabers, I'd be calling my lawyer and having them start smooth talk LFL. Make sure that they understand the whole "we are not affiliated, nor do we propse to be" thing...

But that's just me.

Ryma Mara · 11-29-2006, 01:39 PM

I thought as long as you had a disclamer saying your products were not associated with <.....> then your legal part would be taken care of. unless its different from state to state?

**LordArgyll** · 11-29-2006, 01:53 PM

Yes and no. It doesn't prevent the trademark/copyright holder from sending you a C&D order and trying to bully you into submission... it just makes it a little more difficult for them to get an easy win in court. Unfortunately large corporations like LFL have the bucks to defend their IP aggressively against folks who don't.

However, I agree that TCSS et. al. are relatively safe. A C&D might be targeted, but I wouldn't expect it to be as aggressively pursued. The guy did make heavy use of LFL trademarks on his website in order to promote his merchandise, which is ultimately why LFL dropped the hammer on him. It made it seem like he was a licensed dealer of authentic replicas.

**Nightwing** · 11-29-2006, 01:54 PM

*sigh*

They shoulda known better than to use copyrighted and licensed terms like that.

**xwingband** · 11-29-2006, 04:10 PM

At first I was wondering what the heck was being discussed...

This is by far the stupidiest thing I've seen yet. High-Tech only resells amazing1 plasma sabers. The EL sabers are unique though. I think in this case I side with LFL because they used trademarked names... duh, that's why SDS will get nailed.

The builders we are familiar with have nothing to fear. LFL doesn't have grounds to sue them because they're components and aren't selling completed sabers under the specific name of SW. Ultra is fine... that'd be like telling Salene they can't upgrade cars. Even Parks was in the clear, they aren't exact and he's not using the "Luke Skywalker Lightsaber" name.