Lucas Loses Battle With Porn Makers

Posted Monday, January 21, 2002 at 4:06 PM Central

by Heather Koehler

George Lucas and his Lucasfilm empire lost out to free speech rights last week as a San Francisco judge ruled against the movie maker and will allow 'Star Ballz' and its star 'Wank Solo' to be sold.

The lawsuit began three months ago when Lucas filed suit against Media Market Group claiming 'Star Ballz' "shamelessly rips of Star Wars copyrights. Lucas argued the movie carried way too many similarities and was afraid people might think he actually gave the porn makers the okay.

Regardless, after U.S District Court Judge Claudia Wilken reviewed the case, she decided it fell under First Amendment rights and ruled in favor of Media Market Group.

A source from Media Market Group remarked, "Basically, it means...the judge reached the decision the Lucasfilm's claims were a totally, unfounded pile of crap." George's forces reacted with a bit more tact.

"We respectfully disagree with the judge's decision on the preliminary injunction. This is a pornographic cartoon utilizing Star Wars intellectual property. We feel strongly that the law does not allow for parody to be a defense to a pornographic use of someone else's intellectual property, especially when that use is directed to children," spokeswoman Lynne Hale stated.

No word from the Lucas camp whether they will appeal the ruling or not.