Kahle v. AshcroftStar Wars Holiday Special
originally submitted by Damian Wiest:
This infamous Star Wars television special ran only once, never went to any sort of home video format and reputedly had the master copy destroyed by George Lucas himself. Lucas Films has, in effect, attempted to unmake the work and eventually to erase all memory of its existence from the public consciousness. Auctions for a copy of this work are available on eBay, but I'm not sure about the legality of some of the copies.
Stifled uses
Damian Wiest:
I would like to view this infamous television special.
Ben Andrews:
My interest in this work is very similar - this work has been essentially lost to the public consciousness, and I would like to view it. It's also a great
example of a copyright holder actively working to perpetually suppress distribution and viewing of a work, in this case because they are displeased with its
quality. Many great literary and artistic works in the past have been considered subpar by their creators, and a dangerous precedent for cultural preservation is
set if authors can effectively block evaluation of their lifetime work as a whole, especially on works that have already been publicly released. There is a huge
potential for study of the Star Wars franchise, both now and in the future - and the availability of this work is critical to that academic goal.
Joseph Rock:
I have viewed this work, but only on a copy of dubious legality. I think it is an important work, demonstrating the way our culture treats works of exceptional popularity. I grieve that future generations will not be able to view Chewbacca's son "Lumpy," nor his uncle "Itchy." Our literary, cinimatic, and musical culture is being destroyed by the greedy modifications of the copyright system. It is illegal for me to purchase or distribute this work, effectively making it unavailable to anyone but a select few, exactly what the copyright laws were originally written to prevent.