George Lucas’s empire are about to go to war, and not with the Rebel Alliance — they’ve got a date tomorrow with the lawyers at SimmonsCooperAndrew in England. The Times Online discusses the case, where Lucasfilm is trying to prevent the designer of the stormtrooper uniforms, the headgear of the imperial fighter pilots and the helmet designed for Luke Skywalker from selling copies to fans:
For his part Mr Ainsworth remained a designer and engineer and would later create a face-sucking monster for the Alien films. In 2004, however, he discovered one of the original helmets he had made in a cupboard in his home in Twickenham.
After successfully selling it to a collector, he began to manufacture the outfits once more, through his company, Shepperton Design Studios. He found a legion of Star Wars fans willing to pay up to £1,800 for a suit and helmet. Lucasfilm responded in 2006 by suing Mr Ainsworth. A judge in California awarded the firm $20 million (£10 million) in damages for copyright infringement, unfair competition and trademark infringment. It has now brought the case to Britain to ensure that this decision is enforced here.
Lawyers for Lucasfilm will argue that there was an implied contract to produce the uniforms, which were in any case based on artwork which it provided. Lawyers for Mr Ainsworth will argue that the copyright has expired, because the uniforms were pieces of industrial design rather than works of art. The case is expected to last ten days.
Stormtroopers march into Chancery Division of the High Court tomorrow.
April 8th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
The guy probably could have gotten a license to make these uniforms and it would have cost him much less than this lawsuit will. George Lucas is notorious for going to the wall to protect every aspect of the STAR WARS series. I guess the guy was down on his luck and found he could use his skills like this to make money, but he had to know Lucas would eventually find out.