FIRST OFF . . .

Lucas had another matter finally laid to rest Thursday, when a five-year copyright infringement complaint brought against Lucasfilm by a designer was finally resolved. Lucasfilm President Doug Norby said Thursday that the litigation brought by Lee Seiler had come to “an unqualified vindication.” Seiler had filed three copyright infringement lawsuits in 1983 alleging that Lucasfilm had stolen his ideas and manufactured the fantasy walking machines in the 1980 “Star Wars” sequel, “The Empire Strikes Back,” and the second sequel, “The Return of the Jedi,” from those ideas. But after it was determined Seiler had no originals of the sketches that showed the walker ideas were his, the suits were quickly decided in favor of Lucasfilm.