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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."

3 of 325 comments (clear)

  1. List of Lucas supporters by Nidi62 · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the article, a list of people that supported Lucasfilms in the lawsuits: Spielburg, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Jon Landau, Brian Henson (Jim Henson's son). These guys just saw a lot of their monopolistic merchandising rights in the UK disappear.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    1. Re:List of Lucas supporters by Grumbleduke · · Score: 4, Informative

      Much of the High Court judgment was taken up arguing this (as Ainsworth was counter-claiming that *he* owned the copyright in the helmet), but it was ruled that if there were any copyright or design rights they would be owned by Lucasfilm as there are presumptions about employers etc. owning things, and the evidence suggested that Ainsworth had only made minor modifications to the original designs, and these had all be approved by someone at Lucasfilm, possibly Lucas himself. [You can read the HC judgment here.]

      However, the court found that the helmet (and the other props he sells) weren't sculptures, so not covered by copyright at all in the UK (the design right they're covered by expires after 15 years). While there are copyrights etc. owned by Lucasfilm in the sketches, plans, drawings for the helmet (and in the films, of course), there is a specific exception to UK copyright law (under s51, CDPA) for making models from plans - this doesn't infringe copyright in the plans (otherwise you'd need a licence for every set of flat-pack furniture or Lego model).

  2. Re:So goes a once-talented filmmaker by GooberToo · · Score: 5, Informative

    I could have eaten a bowl of alphabet soup and shat a better plot than that.

    Actually, 1-3 literally have no plot. They are just a combination of random, usually conflicting and confusing words, and images.

    Don't believe me? Check these out. The narrative voice is annoying as all hell, and the reviews are very long, but he does an absolutely wonderful job of analyzing those "movies." Literally, they have no plot. If a film student were to produce that shit, they would be ejected from school.