10 Biggest (And Weirdest) Lawsuits In Star Wars History
2. Lucasfilm Strikes Back Against President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative
Fresh off the success of the original trilogy, Star Wars was at the height of its powers.
Not only had it infiltrated every corner of the pop-culture world, it had also infiltrated every corner of the world, full-stop. By 1985, it had grown so ubiquitous that it was even used as a shorthand way to describe US President Ronald Reagan's proposal for a "space-based missile defense system."
Widely known as the Strategic Defense Initiative (or SDI for short), this system was the subject of a TV commercial that attempted to simplify what it was all about. To that end, it used animated children's drawings and upbeat, bouncy music, complete with a young girl giving a voiceover that began with the line: "I asked my daddy what this 'Star Wars' stuff is all about."
The thing is, Lucasfilm wasn't best pleased with its Star Wars brand being used to describe an anti-missile program, and so, in November 1985, the studio filed a lawsuit accusing the ad-makers of trademark infringement, unfair trade practices, and disparagement, and sought to have the advertisement altered - or even banned from television entirely.
A few weeks later, a court ruled that Lucasfilm had no right to prohibit the use of the term "Star Wars" in this particular context, and that, unless said phrase was being used for commercial gain, then the trademark could not be infringed.