Studios seek best of both worlds

I recall the moment perfectly. Last spring, I was one of those sitting in the dark in a movie theatre in the kind of anticipation one reserves only for new instalments in George Lucas's Star Wars saga.

I was hooked in 1977 when I watched in astonishment the virtuouso special effects that created the amazing double suns setting over the planet Tatooine.

OK, I am kind of sad. But that's not the point. The point here is that last spring I was pretty much on the edge of my seat watching the horribly named but very exciting Star Wars prequel The Attack of the Clones, and there it was, Trinity's Long Room in the Old Library. Except it had glowing blue "books", or whatever storage media are called in the Star War-ian future. There was the arched ceiling, the double storey of book alcoves, the railing on the second floor, even the busts on their plinths.

Except in the film, it wasn't really the Long Room; it was supposed to be the Jedi Archive. I laughed at the perfect recreation and pointed it out to the friend beside me.

Now, it turns out that it isn't the Long Room, never was meant to be. There's no connection at all, insisted a spokeswoman from LucasFilm, when it was revealed that the college said it would at least like acknowledgement on the image over which it has copyright. The college owns the rights to the commercial use of the image of the Old Library.

Now, some people think a lawsuit over this issue would be pretty silly - not least some film animators, who e-mailed me after I wrote about the situation in my weblog. One retorted that the US Defense Department also might have a good case against LucasFilm for the use of the SR-71 plane to inspire the design of Naboo's fleet ships in the films.

TCD should just enjoy the flattery of having its architecture perhaps, or perhaps not, motivate the LucasFilm CFX specialists, he said.

Except for one little thing. If the Long Room was indeed used as a model (you can compare the two images at http://radio.weblogs.com/0103966/2002/11/11.html#a594), then LucasFilm's "Who, me?" attitude would sure be ironic, given that the studio has been heavy-handed in dealing with any perceived violation of its own copyright.

In addition, Star Wars distributor 20th Century Fox has been an ardent campaigner on behalf of the strictest interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, diving in as a litigant with other Hollywood studios to restrict the ways in which consumers can use DVDs and the internet.

LucasFilm has a history of taking legal action over copyright. It sued rapper Dr Dre because in one song he used a recording of the sound heard in movie theatres when the THX sound technology logo is displayed before a film begins. LucasFilm invented this digital sound technology and owns the copyright to this "deep note" sound.

In 1999, in advance of the release of The Phantom Menace Star Wars episode, LucasFilm sent threatening letters to 700 internet service providers, warning them that they would be held liable if their subscribers offered Star Wars images or film clips.The ISPs were not impressed.

The company has issued cease and desist letters to fan sites that linked to websites offering images from Star Wars storyboards in advance of film releases. And, most recently, LucasFilm has pursued fans who have done digital re-edits of the films and distributed them on DVDs and over the Net.

In a story about the re-edits, the New York Times quoted Mr Jim Ward, Lucasfilm's vice-president for marketing: "We've been very clear all along on where we draw the line," he said.

"We love our fans. We want them to have fun. But if in fact somebody is using our characters to create a story unto itself, that's not in the spirit of what we think fandom is about. Fandom is about celebrating the story the way it is."

20th Century Fox and other film studios are currently approaching the fans of their films as potential criminals. Not only are they arguing that the studios should have the right to have hardware incorporated into computers that would prevent any duplication of a purchased film; they now also want the ability to hack into individual consumers' computers if they detect that a person has violated copyright restrictions.

Lawyers who oppose the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and ever more limiting interpretations of copyright are joined by the technology companies in noting that the studios are perfectly happy to welcome the increased sales and distribution possibilities that they have with CDs and DVDs, and with the internet.

But at the same time, they want to place greater restrictions on the use of a purchased item than exists with older media such as videos, tapes and books, which one can resell, duplicate, give away or alter pretty much without restriction.

So, at the moment, I'm listening to LucasFilm's denials with the same open-mouthed astonishment I had for those two Tatooine suns. I wonder what the copyright protections are on those glowing books in the Jedi Archive?