Some unfortunate news, everybody. Ghyslain, aka the "Star Wars Kid," and his family may be pursuing legal action against the individual(s) who originally posted his video on the Internet. Their legal counsel, Mr. François Vigeant, conducted an interview with Radio Canada which was just posted to their website. (French transcript, or the fundraiser excerpt translated to English. Can anyone translate the whole interview and e-mail me?)

During the 12-minute interview, Mr. Vigeant states that he heard about the fundraiser, but that his client has not received any gifts yet. Be aware that we've attempted to contact Ghyslain and his parents numerous times since the fundraiser was closed, to find out how Ghyslain wanted the money spent. After many unsuccessful e-mails and phone calls, we finally spoke to Ghyslain last night. He informed us that he was advised by his lawyer not to discuss the case, but mentioned that he was not pursuing legal action against the two of us.

The fundraiser money sits untouched in a Paypal account. If this matter is not resolved by June 10, or if Ghyslain and his family decide to refuse the fundraiser gifts entirely, we'll refund all of donations through Paypal immediately. A sincere apology to all the kind-hearted people who tried to help. We'll post more news as we're able to.

from http://www.waxy.org/

What an arsehat. I hope this whole thing gets thrown out of court and at the very least nothing is done to the guys who posted it.

what a cornbread..

So, if someone took a video of you that you didn't want anyone else to see and put it on the Internet, you'd be cool with that?

Trog, I think you'll find few people here make videos of themselves dancing around the basement like Jedi ballerinas.

But hey - prove me wrong kids, prove me wrong!

I wouldn't!

hel no i wouldnt...and id want the peoples house and lifesavings in return.

Man, that blows goats.

If I made something like that and it hit the net it wouldn't worry me. I'd be laughing my ass off that so many people got to see it. What I don't want people to see are my recorded webcams of me sitting naked in front of the computer with my pet gerbal.

8-)

Too late, I'm uploading those as we speak!

i dont think we want to see that either thanks rev ;)

well he was the idiot who wanted to be filmed while doin jedi moves.

Too late, I'm uploading those as we speak!

Damn you, Khel. You're sued next QGL.

8-)

Khel, be careful. I offer my services to represent Rev's gerbral in a class action against the QGL!

gerbral's of the world unite!

:P

Is that footage with or without the duct tape?

I think we should all send him $1 on paypal for the hours of laughter he has given us all.

What a champ

Is that footage with or without the duct tape?

Theres footage with duct tape? Damn, it seems my source has been holding out on me...

speaking of this lookie what i just came upon :D

http://www.csl.co.il/images/custom_avatars/avatar259_1.gif

lol its quite amusing :)

gif-a-licious! :D

http://dem0n.qgl.org/images/temp/JediDancer.gif

Yeh, I've posted it before... & I'll post it again as soon as your guard is down! :D

this whole thread = lol

haha that fat unco spastic

ROOOOLES at the gif :)

rofl

didn't he film himself?
it's not like someone else filmed it without his knowledge and posted it for us to laugh at.
I read he returned the video player and tape that *he borrowed* and didn't clean it off.

lol what a weeeenie

thats so funny, that kid is the biggest downer. Recording himself being a retard then trying to sue.

Trog, I think you'll find few people here make videos of themselves dancing around the basement like Jedi ballerinas.

But hey - prove me wrong kids, prove me wrong!

If someone uploaded videos or images of me without my expressed permission before hand I would slap them with a law suite quick smart.

He is the biggest dumbass on earth. Why the f*** would he video tape himself being a complete moron. Gave me plenty of chuckles :D

He is the biggest dumbass on earth. Why the f*** would he video tape himself being a complete moron. Gave me plenty of chuckles :D

Probably because people such as yourself call him a dumbass fat kid, seriously eating away at his self confidence. Who knows his exact reasons for doing it, but I sure bet you have done things far far far more moronic then that (which isnt moronic at all..).

I'd probably sue too, cause you know people at his school will be giving him s*** everyday, which will probably extend throughout the torture that is school, which would also affect the way he views the world and himself...

All because a couple of sk's wanted to get a few ego points...

If stuff like this is illegal, then how is it that cliff is still making fun of people?

http://www.somethingawful.com/cliff/ihateyou/

Something Awful seems to have a reputation for uploading borderline, but legal stuff. They have been threatened a few times before, but none of the court cases went ahead.

I wouldnt be suing if I was going to get a few thousand dollars worth of stuff from donation money.

Its not like anyone stole anything, he taped himself, and stupidly forgot to delete it. Someone found the tape and distributed it.

Someone found the tape and distributed it.

I guess the question in court will be Why did they distribute it? :/

why not? There wouldnt be a law against it. It may be a bit of a grey area, due to the fact that the tape was borrowed, though.

Did they distribute it because they felt he was a good actor and thought that others wanted to see it, or did they distrubte it because they thought it was funny (at the expense of the kid) and that other people would find it funny?

so does that mean that if a video shop promote battlefield earth as being a stupid, idiotic, crappy so-called scifi movie with crappy acting, but hilariously funny because of this, they can be held liable for damages?

I dont know, I'm not a lawyer. However no doubt we will probably end up hearing if the case goes ahead or not and we could discuss it futher then. :D

There might be something also along the lines of if it was intended for public viewing or not, again I dont know, I'm not a lawyer. I still stand by statement that If I was in the same position I too would try and sue (unless the donations exceeded the expected payout).

Also we dont know the full story, there might be far more in it then we know.

i would far prefer to take donations, which probably wouldnt be as much, and not look like an a******, than be yet another person who sues someone over something as trivial as this.

I remember reading posts after an interview was made, saying how cool he was for not taking all this too seriously etc. Now that hes done this, a lot of hate has been thrown at him.

I would prefer people calling me the "funny kid who was in that stupid video" than that "ungrateful f*** who, even after being offered donations from people who think hes kidna cool, gives them the finger back and gets all teary eyed".

Either way, he is pretty much an internet celebrity, I would prefer to get a positive out of that.

I see your point, they too probably thought this over. I'd suspect the expected payout far exceeds the donations. There is also the possibility that they wont get anything and lose the donations.

We also dont know the full story, this could just be the straw that breaks the donkeys back so to speak.

I think we are forgetting the fact that he dances pretty well for a fat prick!

a******. People did a pay-pall whiparound and raised 12k, AND a windows-ipod.

why not? There wouldnt be a law against it. It may be a bit of a grey area, due to the fact that the tape was borrowed, though.

swiss_cheeseman you need a better grip on copyright! what the kid has done is a work of art, and therefore as soon as it is created, it is under copyright (although in the u.s. to get proof of copyright you must pay and fill in a form bla bla forgetting all that..). and people aren't allowed to distrubute copyrighted works without the copyright holder's express permission!

so therefore, even on someone else's equipment, doesn't mean they have the right to distribute it. if i record vocals (and i fully intend to) at a recording studio, does it give them the right to distribute my work because i used their equipment? no.

ok ok, i twisted the "work of art" to get the copyright law to apply... i shoulda been a f***ing lawyer or something.

[/swiss_cheeseman answer]

money cannot repair reputational loss... he already probably had problems at school from the way he looks, he doesn't need the s*** he'd get from doing THAT. sure it looks stupid, but so what? we all do stupid things. go to a pub, you see them everywhere.

when i was at school (uh oh, i'm sounding like my father) i was not fat. i have never been fat. but i was intellectual and interested in computers... my school life was f***ing hell, the last thing i would've needed was a video like that being spread around. i would've tried to sue the people that downloaded it and spread it too. (yes that's impractical, back when i was in primary school the internet was only with a select few).

i can understand the sueing... if the kid had given permission, fine, the sueing is bulls***, but no... if the kid didn't give permission, what the other person has done is very very wrong.

and while sueing still involves money... the donation stuff is all well and good, but the people/person resonsible aren't/isn't suffering the monetary loss. if the donations came from the people/person responsible, then i bet they'd accept the money, because it means the people/person responsible would be, at least in part, paying for what they have done.

I wouldn't be supprised if it was his parents that are pushing to sue. The adults are more likely to get greedy and see a bag of cash waiting to happen rather then the kid

If i was the kid i'd just turn to the dark side and get my revenge.

meh

I think it should be against the law for people to "sue" each other

Imagine how much petty bulls*** would just go away....

if I could do that kind of s*** I'd tape it and put it on the net myself!

I'm about 1/4 his size and not as skilled with a broom handle, he should be getting mad props for being a kain0r broom man!

If I made something like that and it hit the net it wouldn't worry me. I'd be laughing my ass off that so many people got to see it. What I don't want people to see are my recorded webcams of me sitting naked in front of the computer with my pet gerbal

Mate people get squirt tears in Ausgamers because they think someone is picking on them ... Hunter once threatened to sue us all for calling him names.

I guess the question in court will be Why did they distribute it? :/

Doesn't matter, they didn't have the right to distribute it, with out the consent of the fat jedi kid.

so does that mean that if a video shop promote battlefield earth as being a stupid, idiotic, crappy so-called scifi movie with crappy acting, but hilariously funny because of this, they can be held liable for damages?

Actualy you are not far off. In Australia certian people in certian organisations can give critical review on products, while other people have to be very carefull of what they say. For example if I say that telstra sucks balls and telstra can prove that I lost them money directly or by loss of reputation made them lose money then I could be sued for that level of money.

However that isn't the case ... firstly this Happened in America/Canada and it isn't about a critical review. What has happened here is someone used footage of the fat jedi kid with out his permission.

I would prefer people calling me the "funny kid who was in that stupid video" than that "ungrateful f*** who, even after being offered donations from people who think hes kidna cool, gives them the finger back and gets all teary eyed".

The point is that people are not saying "funny kid who was in that stupid video" they are callling him the "fat unco c***" and such. I don't know about you but the people to blame are the people who release the footage of him without his permission. In fact if anyone should be seen in a negitive light it should be "the dirty f***ers who used illegal footage of somebody else".

I wouldn't be supprised if it was his parents that are pushing to sue. The adults are more likely to get greedy and see a bag of cash waiting to happen rather then the kid

Mate do you care about anything else in the world other than your dick? If someone you loved was devestated by the actions of some cockwad f***heads you would be trying to do all you could do to hurt them too. f*** if it happened to anybody I realy cared about someone would be eating a brick.

meh

I think it should be against the law for people to "sue" each other

Imagine how much petty bulls*** would just go awa

holy f*** are you the dumbest person on these forums? I can't express how totaly stupid that statement is ... I think I am now dumber for haveing read it.

How about this stupidhead; if you couldn't sue people then what legal protection do you have? None, thats what.

I guess once somthing is on the internet you are fark, but it was funny as hell to watch :)