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Lucas Loses Star Wars Stormtrooper Copyright Case

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the helmets-for-everyone dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A prop designer who made the original Stormtrooper helmets for Star Wars has won his copyright battle with director George Lucas over his right to sell replicas. The five-year saga, which ended in the highest court in the land, has stakes of galactic proportions."

2 of 325 comments (clear)

  1. I feel a great disturbance in the Force... by ozbird · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... as if millions of voices suddenly cried out "F*ck you, Jar Jar Binks!" and were suddenly smug.

  2. A Miscarriage of justice! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apparently, the UK case hinged on whether the stormtrooper armor was a sculptural work of art(entitled to copyright in hahaha-not-quite-perpetuity) or a merely functional design(15 years). The court decided the latter.

    However, as a nerd and pedant in good standing, I cannot allow this ridiculous assertion to go unchallenged: can armor that fails to protect its wearer from being clubbed to death by mere teddy-bears, and reduces the accuracy of the Empire's finest to one notch above slapstick truly be called "functional"? Absurd.