We thought we'd seen the last of LucasFilm, George Lucas, and his army of lawyers when they backed down from plans to sue Wicked Lasers over its 1-watt Spyder III Pro Arctic laser, which they said resembled the iconic Star Wars lightsaber too closely.  But it now appears that they're back at it again.

Mr. Lucas has filed a $5M USD trademark lawsuit against Jedi Mind, Inc., makers of wireless, brain-controlled consumer electronics.  Mr. Lucas came up with and owns the term "Jedi Knight". In addition, the "Jedi mind trick" was a key plot item in Star Wars, in which Obi Wan Kenobi and other Jedi Knights were shown using it to bewilder and trick the weak-minded.

Jedi Mind currently makes three products: "Master Mind," "Jedi Mouse" and "Think Tac Toe."  The Jedi Mouse is a brain-controller for the PC similar to OCZ's gaming Brain Mouse.  It supports three levels of control; conscious (which directly uses brain waves), expressive (which detects facial expression), and affect-based (which detects motions).

Apparently, Jedi Mind tried to pull a real life Jedi mind trick on Mr. Lucas.  After receiving a cease-and-desist letter last May, Mr. Lucas alleges that Jedi Mind's chief executive officer, Brent Fouch, promised him that he would phase out the company's name and any Jedi references in its products. No action was taken by Fouch to appease Lucas.

A second cease-and-desist letter in September of last year also was met with inaction.

Where the trademark dispute may get interesting is that Lucas Film only owns rights to the terms Jedi Knight, Jedi Power Battles, and Jedi Training Academy.  It does not explicitly own the word "Jedi" or the phrase "Jedi mind".  Lucas Film, however, contends in legal documents that it owns "all characteristics associated with the Jedi Knights not memorialized in a registered trademark ... (including) Jedi robes, the lightsaber weapon, the power to levitate objects, a telepathic oneness with other Jedi and the universe, and the ability to shoot energy beams called 'Force Lightning' from the fingertips."

Jedi Mind Inc. is publicly traded under the symbol JEDM.