George Lucas is the latest grandee to be tainted by the Enron scandal, if unwittingly. It transpires that some of the bankrupt company's employees were big Star Wars fans. Big enough fans, in fact, to name some of their financial vehicles after Star Wars characters and themes.

The JEDI LP (The Joint Energy Development Investment LP) was first, in 1993. The possible coincidence "just started a series of Star Wars names," according to Enron spokeswoman Karen Denne. These included Chewco Investments LP, Kenobe Inc and Obi-1 Holdings LLC. Chewco, in particular, is implicated in manoeuvres to obscure the debts of the parent company.

Lucasfilm was keen to point out that it was unaware of the usage of the names and that "any use by Enron of such trademarks was without our permission".

The Star Wars franchise, it would seem, is a victim of its own success. Lucasfilm has also recently been locked in a legal wrangle with the makers of a porn film called Wank Solo, objecting to a perceived infringement of its copyright.