It was the passport she was looking for, but British officials didn’t want to allow a woman to sign that official document using her middle name of “Skywalker.” The Home Office said the name is a no-go because it infringes on a trademark. This, despite the fact that she’s used the moniker on other official documents.
The 29-year-old woman added Skywalker — after Luke Skywalker, a character created by George Lucas for Star Wars, if you’re not down with the folks from Tatooine — to her name in 2008 “for a bit of a laugh,” she tells the BBC.
She says she has the signature on a bunch of other official documents, but when she tried to renew her passport and changed her signature to include the name, the Home Office said it “will not recognize a change to a name which is subject to copyright or trademark.”
“We have a duty to ensure the reputation of the UK passport is not called into question or disrepute,” a spokesman said.
But the woman is wondering why this case is so different from her other forms of identification.
“It’s on my driving license, my bank cards, everything. Everyone else is happy with that signature apart from passport office,” she said.
She’ll now perhaps be able to keep the name on her passport, but would have to submit a new form with her old signature. Unless perhaps George Lucas himself arrives on a landspeeder brandishing a lightsaber to grant her permission personally. And if that’s what happens, well, just call me Princess Leia Quirk.
‘Skywalker’ signature rejected by passport officials [BBC]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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