George Lucas Says Bring on the Mashups and Derivative Works

In a ringing endorsement of fan-made art, StarWars.com announced that it would be relaunching its site tomorrow with tons of fan movies, as well as tools for helping fans make new mashups of Lucasfilm properties. Though the entertainment giant has been tight-fisted with its IP in the past, it looks like the company might be turning over a new leaf. Check out StarWars.com tomorrow to get access to Eyespot, a multi-media editing tool that our own Michael Calore wrote about last year. You'll be able to mashup Star Wars images, sounds, and movies to create your own Phantom Edit.

In a press statement, Lucasfilm Senior Director of Distribution and Online Jeff Ulin said:

Since 1977, Star Wars has been built on the idea that our fans are the reason we have been successful, and they have long shown their enormous creativity and desire to have fun and express themselves through Star Wars. Our new site brings our fans innovative tools like the Eyespot editor that let them do just that in exciting new ways.

No word yet on whether Lucasfilm will make fans click "I Agree" on some kind of dubiously-legal contract where you sign away ownership of anything you make using the Star Wars Eyespot editor.

Image (from a real patent application filed by George Lucas) courtesy of USPTO.