A British prop designer has won his battle with Star Wars creator George Lucas over the right to sell replica stormtrooper outfits following a supreme court ruling.
Twickenham-based Andrew Ainsworth, 62, built the original costumes used in Star Wars and has been selling the outfits, based on his moulds for the 1977 blockbuster, online for a number of years. He successfully argued the costumes were functional works rather than artistic ones, and therefore not subject to full UK copyright laws.
"The judges concluded that the helmet could not be regarded as an artistic work because it was a mass produced item - remember how many stormtroopers there were? - and has an utilitarian role," said leading intellectual property lawyer Simon Bennett of Fox Williams LLP.
Lucas had taken the case before a succession of judges in an effort to halt Ainsworth's work. He has now been forced to admit defeat – in the UK at least – following the ruling by the UK's highest court for civil cases, which upheld a decision taken at the court of appeal in 2009.
"This is a massive victory, a total victory, we've already got the champagne out," Ainsworth told the BBC, adding that he had gone to court on a principle and was not going to allow the director to "buy his soul".
He told the Daily Telegraph: "I am proud to report that in the English legal system David can prevail against Goliath if his cause is right. If there is a force, then it has been with me these past five years."
However, the supreme court also ruled that Lucas's copyright had been violated in the US, meaning Ainsworth will no longer be able to sell his costumes there. The film-maker successfully sued Ainsworth for $20m in the US when he began selling replicas of the models in 2004, but a succession of UK courts overturned that ruling, culminating in today's decision. "He lost on the US issue and as a result claims for infringement of foreign copyright can now be brought in the UK," said Bennett.
Ainsworth's suits cost up to £1,500 and are highly sought after by Star Wars devotees, who wear them to fan conventions, as well as collectors.
A spokesman for Lucasfilm told Sky News the court had "maintained an anomaly of British copyright law under which the creative and highly artistic works made for use in films ... may not be entitled to copyright protection in the UK".
The BBC has posted a video in which Ainsworth shows how he makes the outfits.
