Excuse me if I’m missing something, but since no one who “owns” a print of Star Wars actually legally “owns” it (since they all belong to Fox/Disney), why exactly is the person who loaned the Technicolor scan upset? I can understand if he or she is worroed because a scan of that print could be traced back and thus face legal repercussions from Fox/Disney. But if it’s something other than that…well, frankly: what right does that person have to keep such a thing to him or herself when none of what we’re talking about here is strictly “legal”?
You pointed out one very good reason. And as Space said, what is in question is the respect with which we treat other members in a very small community. Mike Verta has made it clear that the people who own prints that he used do not want their identities revealed, nor do they want scans of their prints released to the public illicitly. You are correct that they don’t have a ‘legal’ right to the print, but that is not what is up for debate. The person may have paid a small fortune for the print to keep in their private collection. They kept it safe from destruction for who knows how many years, and they took an enormous risk allowing it to be used for an important project. So we should respect them for those reasons, even if it isn’t about recognizing legal rights. The other factor in the allegation is that Mike Verta paid $10000+ for the scan itself to occur.
You can always argue that there is no honor among theives, so therefore we should all just do whatever. But that’s not how a community like this, which benefits greatly from collaboration, needs to survive.
What I don’t understand: -1 released a preview video of the Technicolor print. Did they get a scan of the whole thing? And if so, why wouldn’t the remaining members simply release it under a different name?
That preview is the whole source of the dilemma. Yes, if they decided to keep working on it, they could release it under a different name. But for what purpose? Do you just mean because they’re a restructured group or because it would somehow effectively allow them to hide from us and Mike Verta? If they are now not going to work on it, they are making the decision on their own behalf with the best interest of the Legacy projects in mind.