generalfrevious said:

But what Lucas is doing to the OT is unique. I know few believe this, but I think he wants to spite us and make one of the most significant films of all time disappear off the face of the Earth.

I think Lucas has drawn inspiration from the behaviour of Kubrick and taken it to a whole new level. In the UK, for 27 years, at his insistence, it was impossible for us to legally see A Clockwork Orange. The ban only ended with Kubrick's death.

During the 90s, at his behest, WB sued a British cinema that dared to show the film, causing them to go into receivership. According to one British documentary, even owning the US Laserdisc in the UK was officially prohibited. The WB office in London gave a posthumous tribute to Kubrick by listing on their building the titles of the films he'd produced for their studio and of course, ACO was glaringly omitted.

It seems like Lucas has looked at what Kubrick did with that situation in the UK and thought, "I'll do that with the OOT on an international level."