Star Wars Theory Prevails after Disney Claims Copyright on Vader Fan Film

Megalith

Megalith

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At the end of December, YouTuber Star Wars Theory released a highly acclaimed fan film starring Darth Vader, who is lured to Padme’s burial planet by a Jedi Master who managed to survive Order 66. Lucasfilm gave him their blessing to create it based on two conditions (no crowdfunding nor monetization), but despite meeting those prerequisites, Disney came knocking anyway due to the soundtrack, which utilized a rendition of the Imperial March. Luckily, Lucasfilm stepped in before both companies could look any worse.

Disney and their partner company Warner Chappell had claimed that because the custom score used in the film used a rendition of the Imperial March score, then it was in violation of their copyright policy. They used this copyright to claim that the entire film was now their intellectual property and were now going to run ads on it and collect the revenue themselves. Theory was given the option to appeal it, which he stated he was not going to do because he would likely lose and then Disney would delete the film and possibly get his channel taken down.
 
Its a nintendo moment.

Im still amazed at fan films. Thanks to improving tech, you can make above "Babylon 5" grade stuff, with only a few grand worth of equipment. I thought fan films were getting pretty dam good when "red planet" came out on dvd and that was close to 15 years ago.
 
nightanole said:
Its a nintendo moment.

Im still amazed at fan films. Thanks to improving tech, you can make above "Babylon 5" grade stuff, with only a few grand worth of equipment. I thought fan films were getting pretty dam good when "red planet" came out on dvd and that was close to 15 years ago.
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Well, while not technically a "fan film" with just "a few grand" 1997 was the peak of non-official Star Wars content

 
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Dregan73 said:
pure greed, its not like disney is broke
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Its a fine line when it comes to trade marks. In lawyer talk, if someone uses your trademark/IP without a license, and you knowingly let it happen, that sets up precedence for future cases. This is unreleated to creative commons or fair use.

Bill makes "starwars, the Odd planet" fan film and uses the imperial march song. Disney knows about it, does nothing. 10 years later a "generic sifi film" comes out and uses the imperial march song. Disney can not go after them because they did not defend themselves the first time.

So basically if it has IP, just have an agreement in writing, even if its non profit etc. The fan film when "grey" when they use more than what they asked permission for.
 
I watched the film - I liked it. Disney is stupid for not coming out for backstory movie for Vader. Show what he did between the prequels and Rogue One. Why does he have a castle?
 
I would say boycott future Star Wars films because of this, but really, shouldn't we stop going just because they really really stink?
 
Youtube needs a way to stop malicious copywrite claims.

EDIT

The modified song shouldnt be able to be claimed anyways, otherwise all covers/etc of songs can be claimed.
 
Dregan73 said:
pure greed, its not like disney is broke
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Disney can't make anything other than a pile of steaming feces and then slap Star Wars on it. I didn't really have an issue with Solo, or even Rogue One, but the rest of their reboots are trash. I agree, it's pure greed. This is very similar to what happened to Axanar the Star Trek fan film that was poised to be much better than the trash that the studios were officially producing... Slowing their films down isn't the answer, the answer is actually making films that don't suck or attempt to push an agenda. It's a sad state of affairs for fans passionate about the franchise. I'm surprised I haven't received any takedown notices for the West End Games Star Wars Roleplaying Game Reboots I've written and posted on G+.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a taste:



 
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Used to download tons of fanfilms from theforce.net before they overhauled the site a few years back. Hadn't heard of this one. Too many things coming out these days to keep track of.

A quote from the article "In essence, they altered the deal and told him to pray they don’t alter it further." -LOL where's Lando in all this.

In the end I'm glad it worked out like it did. Good for everyone.
 
cjcox said:
I would say boycott future Star Wars films because of this, but really, shouldn't we stop going just because they really really stink?
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I stopped caring after the prequels and episode 7. The combined garbage that both of those are further proof George Lucas is a hack who ripped off lensman (believe he bought the rights to) and proceeded to ruin it.
 
this guy needs to be hired and this series made official this shows there is a real visceral hunger for VADER and star wars series can be made on a budget and be damn good
 
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nightanole said:
Its a fine line when it comes to trade marks. In lawyer talk, if someone uses your trademark/IP without a license, and you knowingly let it happen, that sets up precedence for future cases. This is unreleated to creative commons or fair use.

Bill makes "starwars, the Odd planet" fan film and uses the imperial march song. Disney knows about it, does nothing. 10 years later a "generic sifi film" comes out and uses the imperial march song. Disney can not go after them because they did not defend themselves the first time.

So basically if it has IP, just have an agreement in writing, even if its non profit etc. The fan film when "grey" when they use more than what they asked permission for.
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LucasFilm does have an agreement with Theory (tl;dr: Make it with your own money only, and do not take revenue from it"). Disney decided to say "screw it" and proceeded to fuck the guy over anyway. Thankfully LucasFilm stepped in and said "Hey, we agreed with Theory that he could. Back off." and Disney backed off.
 
viscountalpha said:
I stopped caring after the prequels and episode 7. The combined garbage that both of those are further proof George Lucas is a hack who ripped off lensman (believe he bought the rights to) and proceeded to ruin it.
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I stopped caring when some teddy bears defeated the Imperial Army. Never seen anything beyond Revenge (yeah, Revenge!) of the Jedi. #OldSchoolStarWars
 
cjcox said:
I would say boycott future Star Wars films because of this, but really, shouldn't we stop going just because they really really stink?
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I’ve completely lost interest in the series, which is a shame because I grew up a huge Star Wars fan and always thought there were some awesome ideas in the original and expanded universes.
 
Alphawoolf said:
I stopped caring when some teddy bears defeated the Imperial Army. Never seen anything beyond Revenge (yeah, Revenge!) of the Jedi. #OldSchoolStarWars
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The Ewoks didn’t drive me as crazy as it seems they drove a lot of fans, but to be fair, I first saw Jedi as a young kid, so i supposed it’s the rough equivalent of 20-somethings today who insist that Jar Jar Binks wasn’t really that bad of a character.
 
HockeyJon said:
The Ewoks didn’t drive me as crazy as it seems they drove a lot of fans, but to be fair, I first saw Jedi as a young kid, so i supposed it’s the rough equivalent of 20-somethings today who insist that Jar Jar Binks wasn’t really that bad of a character.
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Just remember, some were raised on Teletubbies (then, you understand why quality doesn't matter)
 
Ok I get a copyright claim on the music but they get the whole film as theirs? How the fuck is that legal? This is like the whole Star Control thing and having the original owners get the game... because
 
Alphawoolf said:
I stopped caring when some teddy bears defeated the Imperial Army. Never seen anything beyond Revenge (yeah, Revenge!) of the Jedi. #OldSchoolStarWars
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You know, it is not unheard of when a woefully underequipped or even primitive warriors have defeated an otherwise superior but arrogant army. I'm just saying it is not impossible when the battle is fought on their own turf and guerrilla tactics like traps are one thing they excel at. That said I do not like Ewoks either but that is because they downgrade the movie towards kid films. Star Wars was always popular amongst kids but it was never really a "kid film", hell it had quite gruesome severed bloody hand in Episode 4.
 
After I got over the different actors (though their b-movie acting wasn't too far removed from the main series) it was really enjoyable. Never mind the Solo one-shot, this is the one-shot they should've went with.
 
I watched this last night and tbh this is 10x more star wars than the new movies. I would have definitely preferred this.
 
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I just watched this and damn this is some good shit. Much better than FA and TLJ and this is only 10 minute episode! Very good palpatine and Vader impersonators too, only few things went wrong (IE James Earl Jones says the word "my master" with completely different emphasis). I am looking forward to the Episode 2.
 
MaZa said:
I just watched this and damn this is some good shit. Much better than FA and TLJ and this is only 10 minute episode! Very good palpatine and Vader impersonators too, only few things went wrong (IE James Earl Jones says the word "my master" with completely different emphasis). I am looking forward to the Episode 2.
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I am fucking DEPRESSED. Disney, just screw you....
These 10minutes gave me more Star Wars joy than all of Disney's garbage combined... I want to break things around me..many things.
Disney, just .. screw you.
They wanted to stop it, becuase its better.
Fans so desperate to see good Star Wars, they make their own! Wow!
 
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