Lucasfilm Is Trying to Shut Down a Lightsaber Academy With a Lawsuit

Sorry, prospective lightsaber masters: Lucasfilm is trying to totally shut down the Lightsaber Academy with a lawsuit.

October 17, 2016

Not Available Lead — Image via Complex Original

Here's some potentially bad news for prospective Lightsaber Academy graduates: Lucasfilm wants to shut that shit all the way down. The Disney subsidiary filed a lawsuit Friday against Lightsaber Academy operator Michael Brown, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Brown, in response to multiple previous case notices, recently filed a trademark application for "Lightsaber Academy Inc." and is now being accused of inciting unfair competition.

"Defendants regularly use the Lucasfilm Trademarks without authorization in connection with their businesses," the compliant states, as reported by THR Monday. "Among other infringing activities, Defendants use a logo that is nearly identical, and confusingly similar, to Lucasfilm's trademark Jedi Order logo... round in shape, with six wing-like shapes curving upward (three per side), and an eight-pointed star featuring elongated top and bottom points stretched into a vertical line."

In addition to the Lightsaber Academy, Brown operates Thrills and Skills and New York Jedi. The Academy is described as "a consortium of lightsaber practitioners with a culmination of 50 years experience of teaching various swordplay techniques." Certifications are also offered for both the casual saber slinger and the devoted connoisseur, each based on the "eight core principles" of the Saberist way of life. The website boasts a selection of limited edition merchandise, which still appears to be available at the time of publication.

Lucasfilm now stands to gain as much as $2 million in statutory damages per infringed trademark and is seeking a permanent injunction. Bummed about all this because you kinda needed some lightsaber advice, like, yesterday? We got you: