Lucasfilm Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars creator George Lucas has filed a trademark infringement suit against Little, Brown & Co., publisher of The Unauthorised Star Wars Compendium. Lucasfilm Ltd have stated through their attorney that the suit is just the tip of an iceberg campaign "to stamp out" alleged infringements in anticipation of the May release of Star Wars: Episode I - the Phantom Menace. It seems no rebel scum willing to bootleg material is safe from the grip of the all-encompassing empire at Lucasfilm Ltd. "We are assembling a team to move ahead in every country and with every remedy we have available to us," Lucasfilm Ltd attorney Bert Fields said, citing such targeted merchandise as Star Wars videos, toys and even T-shirts. And although Fields is anticipating most of the actions to be filed in civil court, he has made it clear that the big boys mean business: "Whenever criminal sanctions are appropriate, we'll seek those as well'' Filed in Los Angeles federal court, the suit has come as somewhat of a shock to New York-based Little, Brown, a unit of Time Warner Inc. Publisher Sarah Crichton said she learned of the action from a reporter's phone call, and hadn't even seen the complaint. Clearly with the force on her side and equally unwilling to back down, she is confident that the book, written by Ted Edwards, will be deemed above board. Lucasfilm attorney Fields estimated Little, Brown has sales of more than $1 million to date from its Star Wars Compendium, but said the actual amount won't be determined until the discovery process. For that reason, the suit didn't specify an amount for damages, he added. According to Lucasfilm, the Star Wars series has spawned an extensive library of more than 300 spin-off novels, comic books and non-fiction works that have sold more than 50 million copies around the world.