Lighten Up George

In July 2001, George Lucas, fiercely protective of his movies, filed a trademark infringement suit against medical-instruments makers Minrad, Inc. for calling a line of laser-guided surgical scalpels ‘Light Sabers’. Lucas had come up with the phrase, which described a luminous weapon wielded by the sinister Darth Vader and the Jedi Knights, prior to the release of the first Star Wars film in 1977.

‘Any deficiencies or faults in the quality of the defendant’s goods,’ his lawyers declared, ‘are likely to reflect negatively upon, tarnish and seriously injure the reputation which Lucasfilm has established for goods and services marketed under its Light Saber mark.’ Minrad countered that they couldn’t honestly see their product reducing revenues from the sale of ‘toy swords’. The suit appears not to have been followed up; presumably the dispute was settled out of court.