Who Wants to Win an Actual Cease-and-Desist Letter From George Lucas?

Just when Star Wars's inspiration and influence had me smiling again, along comes this more typical, souring George Lucas anecdote: Lucasfilm has issued a cease-and-desist letter to manufacturers of a mega-powerful laser being touted as a real-life lightsaber. And now it's going for $350 at eBay. The letter, that is, not the lightsaber. Click through for photos.

This really is a perfect storm of cynicism: Manufacturer Wicked Lasers scored some early press for likening its device -- said to be 1,000 times more powerful than laser pointers deployed by academics/speakers/your average troublemaking dumb-ass -- to one of the famous Star Wars weapons. The handle boasts the biggest resemblance; otherwise it's just a scorching, blinding blue light.

Enter the Lucasfilm legal team, I guess, which bundled some of the offending press along with a thorough order to the Hong Kong-based company to discontinue its "lightsaber" gimmick. Not ones to let an opportunity pass them by, that bundle -- including the FedEx envelope in which it arrived (and which occupied the same real estate as the man whose empire made this all possible! ZOMG! Or something) -- has landed on eBay, where it has welcomed 40 bids to date with a current high of $355.

Maybe this is just another Wicked Lasers hoax, and it is its own highest bidder. Regardless, this letter looks like the real deal, and short of selling Greedo masks on Etsy or building an X-wing fighter in your garage, this is probably as close as you're going to get to receiving one of your own. Happy bidding, if you must.