Hey all!

An opinion question... if a third party made a figure called “Space duelist”and it was a guy in some robes who had a laser-ish sword, would that realistically be enough for Disney to sue over? Where does the cut off come?

Copyright or trademark is enforceable when something is indistinguishable from the protected original product/text/artwork/etc.

A figure in robes with a laser sword can be distinct enough to avoid that kind of infraction.

If the laser sword is identical in design to a specific lightsaber, if the robes are patterned like Jedi robes, if the figure’s face is recognizable as a Star Wars character; these are details that could result in legal action from LFL or Disney.

The devil is in the details. If the “space duelist” has enough unique features to be considered an original work, then it is eligible for the same legal protection as Mace Windu.

I think as long as there are five distinctly different details it's far enough away from the original they can't take action.

I've seen action figures that are clearly Star Wars ripoffs. No robes, rather space armour, yet ...

How about a sword and sorcery series with Chewie expy and a ‘sun sword’.

set in a post-apocalyptic earth 1000 years in the future. Please tell me they made figures of this and I just missed them.

Also this happened once: