Don't you hate it when George Lucas "steals" your robot designs?

I'm all done for the semester, but this case is such a classic I just had to post about it. Consider it a send-off for the semester, a goodbye and an I-won't-miss-you. Seiler v Lucasfilm involved a man claiming he designed the walkers from Star Wars and George Lucas infringed his copyright in using the design in the films.

The catch? Seiler had "lost" the original sketches (allegedly penned prior to Lucas' independent designs) on which his claim was based, and instead offered "reconstructions" of the original sketches. Seiler lost at summary judgement based on Federal Rule of Evidence 1002, requiring the original of writings, recordings or photographs.

This was a classic, if not wholly inept, shakedown attempt. Read more at Google Scholar.

This was originally posted to joeross.posterous.com.