Star Wars video prompts lawsuit
Posted by malebolgia on 25 July 2003 - 18:18 · 60 comments & 4239 views
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malebolgiaContact: via forum PM
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#1 Posted by Huezo on 25 Jul 2003 - 18:25
- It was his damn fault, get over it
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#2 Posted by ike on 25 Jul 2003 - 18:28
- wow that ****in sucks
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(3 replies)
#3 Posted by Mr. Black on 25 Jul 2003 - 18:32
- I laughed at it for 1 minute. Then deleted it.
It's his fault for keeping the video in the first place and not deleting it if he didn't intend it to be seen.
I was teased in Grade school. Do kids who get teased get scarred for life?
Hardly. He already got an IPod and $15K from some ppl who started some campaign for his sorry stupid fat ass. And I'm sorry to say but suing them will not stop people from teasing him, so what is to be gained from this? How the hell did they get into the cupboard it was being stored in anyways? Did the lightsaber fatass let them into his house?
He doesn't deserve money for it or anything else. If he is having so much problems then he should transfer to a different school.
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#3.1 Posted by Danrarbc641 on 25 Jul 2003 - 18:37
- That's just what I was going to say.
He already got a load of money and an iPod. And he didn't even deserve that.
If you're dumb enough to do that in-school, not erase the tape, and/or not take the tape home you deserve the humiliation. -
#3.2 Posted by Ehrihk on 25 Jul 2003 - 20:04
- But the kids did take the tape from school which is considered stealing. Plus I can assure you that going to a different school would not fix his problem.
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#3.3 Posted by JaggedFlame on 25 Jul 2003 - 21:28
QUOTE How the hell did they get into the cupboard it was being stored in anyways?
I'm pretty sure this cupboard was in a classroom or someplace the teacher stored it?
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#4 Posted by Sawyer12 on 25 Jul 2003 - 18:32
- poor kid
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#5 Posted by Jeffrey on 25 Jul 2003 - 18:33
- I agree with the kid. It isn't fun to look at that kind of stuff, and it was meant to be private.
Adding the effects are even more no-no.
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(1 reply)
#6 Posted by XP-RTM on 25 Jul 2003 - 18:37
- he's just acting i would be happy if that happened, lol anyone want to send me around and add me the lightsaber effect so it looks real? haha
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#7 Posted by nspeds on 25 Jul 2003 - 18:39
- That kid is a dumbass.
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#8 Posted by GwaRGuITaR on 25 Jul 2003 - 18:56
- this story is not accurate. his PARENTS are filing the law-suit.
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(5 replies)
#9 Posted by Arkayz on 25 Jul 2003 - 18:57
- He should be suing everyone who added effects under the DMCA for using his copyrighted work without his permission. Tag team with the RIAA for distributing his copyrighted work and for losses as a result of the video being spread via Kazaa, negating any profit he could have made from the video through traditional channels.
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#9.3 Posted by radixvir on 25 Jul 2003 - 22:09
- you recieve an automatic copywright whenever you create something. the parents will probably be able to get some money from the school or something but i doubt very much
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#9.4 Posted by Arch on 26 Jul 2003 - 06:29
- No you don't. It won't hold up to well in any court (well, maybe Canada.. silly Canadians), otherwise I could walk in with a video on my computer of some overweight kid twirling around with a stick and a 1999 date slapped onto the end of the bitch and sue the kid for copyright infringement. It'd just not quite that simple when you get with the big boys.
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#9.5 Posted by jdhas on 29 Jul 2003 - 21:08
- Yes you do. See The US Copyright Office for more info. To quote: "Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form."
Arch--Words of wisdom for the future: Think (or at least do your research) before you speak/write.
It is exactly that simple when you "get with the big boys."
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(1 reply)
#10 Posted by Scorpio on 25 Jul 2003 - 18:57
- Who cares if it was his fault he made the video? If you had a home video of you with you girlfriend or wife on a trip and someone leaked it on the internet and then your wife/gf was harassed it'd then be your fault, by your logic? Please. Grow up. It's not his fault, it was for a freaking project. He didn't want the whole world to see it and insult him as you are doing now.
I say right on. Go give those assholes what they deserve. Maybe this will just be a small step to stop bullying and teasing in school, who knows? I say it's a good case and I hope he wins it. Good luck to him. -
#10.1 Posted by Suddenly_Dead on 26 Jul 2003 - 19:54
- Finally someone with some sense. I agree fully, it's a private video and nobody had any right to release it to the public. Many of the people here are just insensitive morons, or bulllies themselves.
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(6 replies)
#12 Posted by qoa on 25 Jul 2003 - 18:59
- He did the deed. Anyone who records crap like this or sex deserves it. Look at the stupid Pamela Anderson pron, they tried to sue and lost heh. I hope this gets thrown out, and he wastes most of that 15k on lawyer/court fees.
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#12.1 Posted by Scorpio on 25 Jul 2003 - 19:02
- He's not suing them, his parents are. And so what if he forgot the tape? It's his property, legally. Not those who stole it and posted it online without his permission.
I have a feeling if this happened to any of you you'd be thinking far differently. You can't say that you wouldn't do the same when you're not in his position. -
#12.2 Posted by Lomex on 25 Jul 2003 - 19:03
- I hope somebody records you playing with yourself and posts it on the net for everybody to see... I wonder what you would do at that point...
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#12.4 Posted by YaddaMe on 26 Jul 2003 - 03:18
- Yet another mindless, non-fact-filled post....
QUOTE Look at the stupid Pamela Anderson pron, they tried to sue and lost heh
Lost? Hrmmm, the way i recall it... ANderon, and Lee "settled" out of court. Although they apparently got duped into signing a release w/o gettin anything for it... they still never lost.
SO, maybe you are talking about the porn w/ Brett Micheals? Nope, cant be that one... they won that one. -
#12.5 Posted by qoa on 26 Jul 2003 - 04:32
- Actually champ, that was far from mindless.
Eonline interview with Pamela Anderson
QUOTE An allegedly stolen homemade X-rated video starring Pam and rocker-husband Tommy Lee set off a frenzy in Hollywood and a legal battle with an Internet company that sought to profit from the tape.
The couple left the courtroom in defeat, only to return a few months later--this time facing each other after Pam accused Tommy of kicking her while she was holding then seven-week-old Dylan.
Know your facts before you try to pick apart a comment. -
#12.6 Posted by qoa on 26 Jul 2003 - 04:34
QUOTE I hope somebody records you playing with yourself and posts it on the net for everybody to see... I wonder what you would do at that point...
I hope they do too, the difference is, he knew he was being recorded. If you're going to put something on tape, it's not secure.
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#13 Posted by qoa on 25 Jul 2003 - 19:00
- Heh, 'pron' was really a typo.
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#14 Posted by jono3000 on 25 Jul 2003 - 19:00
- lol that was a funny video lol, some of the "remix" versions were so funny
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#15 Posted by Eversurf on 25 Jul 2003 - 19:02
- It was one of the funniest video and the edit was even better. It ranks in my top 3 with the star war nerds video. Well in another perspective he made me laught and smile, so that was good.
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#16 Posted by Gary_Player on 25 Jul 2003 - 19:19
- You gotta b fkin kidding me...
He should be THANKING THEM!
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#17 Posted by Icepick4u on 25 Jul 2003 - 19:22
- where i find it?
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#18 Posted by kemical on 25 Jul 2003 - 19:35
- wtf, they interviewd him and was fine, they even had a website dedicated to raising money to buy him **** for it... that fat ****.
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#19 Posted by Prelude76 on 25 Jul 2003 - 19:45
- the funny thing is i never heard of this video until now, and now that i read it on bbc and here, i'm going to download it just for fun. so in effect, his unwanted popularity will grow 5 times bigger.
hehehe.. SUCKER!
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#20 Posted by FudgeMonkey on 25 Jul 2003 - 20:02
- guess he finally realised every1 was laughing @ him not with him
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#21 Posted by divertom15 on 25 Jul 2003 - 20:04
- Mentaly scared my a** his family is just doing it to get money
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(1 reply)
#22 Posted by me101 on 25 Jul 2003 - 20:18
- http://www.jedimaster.net/ a quick search on google....
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#23 Posted by Monkeh on 25 Jul 2003 - 21:28
- gotta love the ReMix video
too bad, his friends should have signed a contract with him, could have made big bucks
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#24 Posted by TheDeputy on 25 Jul 2003 - 21:38
- Damn kid should be so lucky he was posted all over the internet. He's kinda a star in a weird way. He should milk it and appear on t.v. shows and do demo's of his skills
lol
Or how about loose some weight and get buff and take some martial arts then show off his stuff. He could use that video for his movie interviews
Someone said earlier that they were teased in high school and jr.high, well i think everyone was and for the most part everyone lived a decent life and went on. Tell his parents to suck it up and tell that kid to suck it up, we all go through crap as kids. Geese someone is just looking for a money grab.
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#25 Posted by arsekicker on 25 Jul 2003 - 23:09
- How is the tape his property, I'm more than certain it is the property of the school if anyone's as well as are the camera and equipment used to make it. Morover, no one is making a profit off of this as far as I know. You don't see people featured on america's funniest home videos, etc. suing there parents for sending that **** in.
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#26 Posted by Neb Okla on 25 Jul 2003 - 23:58
- He's just lucky I don't sue him for mental anguish at having people forward links to 50 different video's of him being a dork.
Oh look! I found a dork on the Internet (of all places) - I MUST TELL ALL OF MY FRIENDS!
This ranks up there as a major event in the history of the Internet. It's just sad.
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#27 Posted by Mindspin on 26 Jul 2003 - 00:45
- He did this for a school project. This was intended for school! It was not intended for mass distribution on the internet. I think it is disgusting that people have exploited this CHILD.
I know I made a really crappy version of Terminator in High School for my project, and I wouldn't want that shown. Fortunately, the people I grew up with are not as disgusting and they know what is reasonable in terms of society.
Truly unbelievable what level the world has stooped to these days.
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#28 Posted by AJCrowley Esq on 26 Jul 2003 - 01:16
- Wow, if his parents weren't sueing, I'd have never found out about this hilarious video. For those griping about how terrible it is that this poor kid had his video stolen, you need to develop a sense of humour, this is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while, and if that kid doesn't learn to see the funny side, he's gonna have a rough life
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#29 Posted by aznx on 26 Jul 2003 - 01:45
- if he was mentally scared, why the hell did he accept the iPod and the $$..such bs, parents freaking idiotic.
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#30 Posted by Smash on 26 Jul 2003 - 02:31
- What you don't seem to know is that he didn't even know the camera was still taping, he had forgotten to turn it off! So this video wasn't intented for school at all.
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#31 Posted by carlito on 26 Jul 2003 - 02:34
- whats funny is that i would never of known about this if he didnt file that lawsuit and create news on neowin and heaps of other sites around the world... all i can say is lol
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#32 Posted by fiBer on 26 Jul 2003 - 02:46
- exactly. i wouldnt have known about it if it werent for neowin
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#33 Posted by Esoteric on 26 Jul 2003 - 03:14
- what a loser, I mean who the hell cares, he should just get over it, and maybe use his plublicity to get in a movie or something, noone actually knew his real name or who he actually was till he found out it was him and started spreading it around, also they have ****ing bought him new computers and a ****load of other stuff, he doesnt deserve more, he should just get over it...
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(2 replies)
#34 Posted by Scorched on 26 Jul 2003 - 04:35
- Personally, I think this has been blown way out of proportion. He was just twirling a stick around in the video.
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#34.1 Posted by JaggedFlame on 26 Jul 2003 - 07:30
- If it were me, I'd probably be laughing my ass off and rolling around in my piles of new dough.
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#34.2 Posted by Scorched on 26 Jul 2003 - 18:33
- Yeah. I sympathize with him, but how much worse can his life really be after this? High school is terrible anyway. And nobody would really recognize him from the video after a few years when he starts looking older. I think releasing his full name to the internet was pretty foolish.
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#35 Posted by ynkephnx on 26 Jul 2003 - 04:42
- whaaa... fat baby... sorry, to me, teasing is a part of growing up... true it was wrong for the kids to steal and publish it, but money and an ipod would be fine enough for me... jeez...
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#36 Posted by toadeater on 26 Jul 2003 - 05:39
- Make a jackass out of yourself on video, win $200,000. Isn't Ameri...uh.. Canada great?
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#37 Posted by shimyrsar on 26 Jul 2003 - 10:56
- In this day and age, getting your 15 minutes of fame is becoming increasingly difficult. The Star Wars Kid has not had to embarras himself as much as several docu-soap 'actors'. He should be happy.
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(1 reply)
#38 Posted by obake on 27 Jul 2003 - 00:36
- Yeah, if the guy is so "mentally scarred" by the whole experience, then he shouldn't have accepted the iPod and the $15K. And now his parents are suing? Sounds like they're just publicity whores.
On top of that, if he didn't want someone to get ahold of it, then he should have stored it in a safer place.
On a related note (and this is 100% true):
In 9th grade at my school, some boarder used his webcam to record himself masturbating. Soon after, his roommate found the movie and sent it to everyone in the school, students and faculty both. The poor ******* didn't come back the next year. -
#38.1 Posted by Jugalator on 28 Jul 2003 - 11:52
QUOTE (#38.0) In 9th grade at my school, some boarder used his webcam to record himself masturbating. Soon after, his roommate found the movie and sent it to everyone in the school, students and faculty both. The poor ******* didn't come back the next year.
Filmed himself masturbating with a webcam?? God... Why!?
Yes, he was indeed a poor *******.
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#39 Posted by Conundrummm on 27 Jul 2003 - 01:11
- I think the point is that this wasn't an innocent prank. They planned to subject this poor kid to ridicule - we all know it's true. They also committed theft. So they should, at the very least, be subject to punishment from the school. Any fool, with a lick of sense, could see this lawsuit coming in 2003 America.
Heck, the way things are going, he might claim copyright infringement and file for damages.
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#40 Posted by njlouch on 28 Jul 2003 - 08:09
- So lemme get this right. A kid makes a jackass outta himself on school equipment, shared equipment. Others see it and post it to the web. There is no copyright so far, so no problems.
Then he complains he is being teased and all because of it? Bullcrap!
I'd tease him because he is a fat geek!
Ghyslain Raza became known as the "Star Wars Kid" after a video of him using a golf ball retriever to emulate the light sabre slinging tricks of Darth Maul was posted on the net. The video was hugely popular and some people even added effects to make the golf ball retriever look and sound like a light sabre. But the public exposure of the clip proved a burden for Mr Raza, who has been through psychiatric care to cope with his unwanted publicity.
Cash call
The 15-year-old made the two minute video as part of a class project but probably never intended it to be seen by anyone else as it is not a flattering portrayal of his sabre-twirling skills. The lawsuit filed last week alleges that four classmates of Mr Raza stole the video from the cupboard in which it was being stored, digitized the clip, posted it online and then invited people to view it and make insulting remarks. Since the original was posted on the Kazaa file-sharing system, it has been downloaded and passed around to millions of people and Mr Raza's story has been featured in newspapers all over the world.
Shawn Yeager writes:
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I've recently moved to Canada and just this week had a problem with my PowerBook that called for me undertaking a reinstall. After firing up iTunes and attempting to play purchased songs, I was asked to reauthorize those songs, using the Apple ID associated with the purchase. No problem, I thought. This is the Apple Music Store, not PressPlay or MusicNet. I paid for these songs and they're mine. Silly me. Apparently, if you change your contact address and/or have your US credit card address changed, as I did, you are no longer able to play the songs you paid for while on US soil.