stevef wrote:I doubt that we'd be sued- it's pretty well a commonly know thing that most churches make zero in the profit department. and in any case you can't get blood out of a turnip anyway- I don't think any of us has the money to make it worth anyone's time to sue.
just a thought, why don't we find a way to contact Lucas and make a formal introduction between us and him. he is the man who coined the term \"Jedi\" after all. I would think he would be interested in meeting us. If i created a multi-billion dollar franchise like Star Wars and found there was a religion based in my creations roots I'd be very intrigued.
in any case it would be polite and who knows he may fully endorse us.
the man isn't an ogre that some people who've been sued for copyright infringement would lead us to believe. He's just an artist and a story teller (not to mention- lets face it a merchandising genius).
One of the reasons we incorporated is that our members have rights and are protected by law from being liable for the debts of The Order unless the member is on the Management Committee and the manager has broken a law.
We have the right to issue member ID cards and grant religious degrees.
Mr. Lucas could seek relief in equity, that is have the court order us to do or stop doing something. If we were not a church and if he cared he would sue to make us strike the word Jedi from our name.
We are a church so the issue involves freedom of religion and a constitutional right trumps a trademark for our purposes.
By definition we cannot make a profit but many churches are profitable but the money can only be used for specific purposes. We can have paid employees and pay the directors stipends but we don't.
The thought of contacting George Lucas has come up before. My instinct say not to do it because I assure you he does know about us and has browsed this site. It is thoughtful though and are you surprised he knows about us?
Google Jedi Temple and look what happens.
Go to Alexa.com and check our rank.
MTFBWY,
M (Br. John+)
