Andrew Ainsworth of South London has beaten
Star Wars creator George Lucas in a battle over his rights to sell replicas of the iconic movie costumes. As reported by
BBC News, he successfully argued that they were functional pieces of work rather than artistic, thereby meaning they were not subject to copyright laws. Here are a few excerpts from their report which further explains the case and circumstances behind it, but you can read more by clicking the link below.
Mr Ainsworth told the BBC: "This is a massive victory, a total victory, we've already got the champagne out." He said he went to court on a principle and he was not going to allow the director to "buy his soul". Both the Court of Appeal and the High Court had already ruled in Mr Ainsworth's favour in his multi-million pound battle with Mr Lucas's production company. The father-of-two has been selling copies of his plastic composite armour and helmets - from the original 1977 film - for eight years. He uses the same studio in Twickenham from which he made the original costumes, and charges up to £1,800.
In 2004, Lucasfilm sued for $20m (£12m) arguing he did not hold the intellectual property rights and had no right to sell them - a point upheld by a US court. But the judgement could not be enforced because the designer held no assets in the US, so the battle moved to the UK. The Star Wars creator, worth an estimated £2bn, claimed Mr Ainsworth was breaching his copyright.
He took his case to the High Court in 2008, Court of Appeal a year later, and earlier this year to the Supreme Court - the highest court in the land. That court has now also ruled that the 3D works should not be considered sculptures, which means their copyright protection is 15 years from the date they were marketed, and had therefore expired.
Basically, if you want a Stormtrooper outfit from the same guy who made them back when the original movies came out, you'll have to get one in the UK. What do you guys think about all of this though? Was George Lucas right to try and put an end to these suits being sold? Be sure to share your thoughts in the usual place.
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