CHARGES COALITION WITH TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT : GEORGE LUCAS FILES ‘STAR WARS’ SUIT

Film producer George Lucas filed a federal suit Tuesday charging that use of the term “Star Wars” to describe the Reagan Administration’s Strategic Defense Initiative constitutes trademark infringement.

The producer asked a federal district court in Washington to issue a temporary restraining order barring the Coalition for the Strategic Defense Initiative from further use of “Star Wars” in a 30-second TV commercial now being broadcast in support of the Administration’s controversial plan for a space-based anti-ballistic-missile defense system.

The coalition includes 137 groups supporting the defense proposal, the best known of which is the Washington-based High Frontier.

Without citing a specific dollar figure, the Lucas suit also claims damages and asks the court to order the coalition to cover the cost of filing the suit.

Lucas’ suit claims that coalition political advertisements involve an “unauthorized use of the federally registered trademark” associated with three blockbuster movies and a veritable industry of toys and other products.

“ ‘Star Wars’ has no place in political advertisements or solicitations of any kind,” said Sidney Ganis, senior vice president of marketing for Lucasfilm Ltd.

“No one has the right to use ‘Star Wars’ in political advertisements,” Ganis said.

Ganis said that Lucas wasn’t objecting to “legitmate press use” of “Star Wars” in editorial or news accounts of the defense program.

The term long has been used in the news media to refer to the defense proposal, which involves research into orbiting defense mechanisms designed to destroy Soviet missiles before they could reach the United States.

Ironically, groups supporting the defense plan have long objected to the “Star Wars” name and prefer the term “Peace Shield,” said Barbara Wheeler, director of communciations for High Frontier.

Wheeler said that the group’s advertisements have run sporadically on local stations around the country. They appeared on two Washington stations the week of Oct. 21-28 and were running Tuesday and today on local stations in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Indiana and Texas.

“We have no plans at this point to run any more,” Wheeler said.

It was reported last week that Lucas asked High Frontier and the Union of Concerned Scientists (a group opposing the defense plan) to stop using “Star Wars” in their advertisements. The scientists’ group told Lucasfilm that it has no ads currently running that make use of the term.