Why President Ronald Reagan Turned to the Dark Side and Joined Forces With the Empire

We're just joking, of course.... This isn't political satire. What it is, though, is an in-depth study regarding patent and trademark law that may surprise you. You know that LucasFilm is pretty particular about their trademarks and patents (for all of their fictional properties, of course), but ever hear of a U.S. President facing the Force in a bad way?

It's True -- Ronald Reagan Accepted the Term "Star Wars" for His New Defense Program During the Cold War

The idea made sense, of course, especially when the program aimed to fund space-based laser missiles and battle stations. And this was back in 1983, so you can only imagine the scope of this....

It, however, wasn't simply Reagan who felt the heat of that light saber from LucasFilm, asking the government to cease and desist on the naming of this program having anything to do with the actual intellectual property. 1985 was the year that the production company sued High Frontier, the manufacturer for the program, claiming trademark infringement.

Sadly, for LucasFilm, the Government Ruled in Favor of Reagan's Defense Program

One thing you have to understand about patents and trademarks is that if they're being used as a parody or in a descriptive manner, it's not infringement. Reagan may have gone to the dark side with that one, but one thing's for sure: Luke Skywalker brought him back to the light (much to LucasFilm's dismay).