Reuters reports Britain’s high court decided today that George Lucas did not have a case for copyright infringement against Star Wars prop designer Andrew Ainsworth… at least in the U.K.
Ainsworth, 62, kept the original molds and tools from when he fabricated many of the Stormtrooper helmets for the 1977 film and has been making replicas for fans for several decades. The court ruled that, in Britain, replicas are not covered by copyright law because they are not works of art. In an odd twist, the court did declare that Lucas’s copyright was violated in the U.S. — LucasFilm has already successfully sued Ainsworth for $20 million in the U.S.
Ainsworth, who does not sell to the States, was untroubled. In a statement, he said, “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.”
LucasFilm issued a statement that it would continue “to aggressively [protect] its intellectual property rights relating to Star Wars in the UK and around the globe through any and all means available to it, including copyright, trademark, design patents and other protections afforded by law.”
This is gross…he had a hand in making the helmets. He wasn’t selling millions in Wal-Mart, he was selling some to fans in Britain. For an indie filmmaker, Lucas sure is a tool. The US laws should be amended, because this is wrong.
No it’s wrong that he’s taking a copyrighted property and turning a profit off of it after decades of advertising, marketing, film making, etc. that Lucas’ company has done to make these helmets known/wanted.
What’s gross is this guy trying to play a David and Goliath card and hide behind another country’s law.
Copyright laws exist for a reason and they don’t become null because they didn’t sell to Wal-Mart.
hes not hiding behind another countries law. that is simply the law, and his right. i dont see how this is hurting george lucas, hes an ass for suing some guy for replicating something he designed. i am a chef. what if chefs started suing others for taking a dish? all chefs steal from one another in some form, all. nobody is a tool and tries to claim intellectual property. how can they be protecting their intellectual property when THEY DIDNT CREATE THE HELMET
You mean the helmets HE designed and created and that Lucas has made billions off of? Sorry, but Lucas is jackass and I’m glad this guy won.
It’s not like he was designing the helmets for halloween costumes. He was designing them specifically for Star Wars, which is George’s property.
I don’t know what kind of contract they had him under back then, but it is standard nowadays to consider that sort of prop mold the property of the employer, not the employee. It’s like taking a company’s client list when you quit and then trying to make money off of them. Basically, it is stealing. If that sort of thing was spelled out in his contract, I’m not sure what his legal or moral defense could be… Of course, we don’t know if he actually violated any agreements. This is all just speculation.
That’s for Jar jar George!
i have started colnlctieg star wars action figures, so far the ones that I have arePhantom Menace original Rune HaakoClone Wars:R2D2 Anakin Skywalker Obi Wan Kenobi Clone Trooper Imperial Pilots Evolutions set Legacy Collection: (Build a Droid) A New Hope3 droid bitsLuke dressed as a StormtrooperHan Solo as a stormtrooperObi Wan KenobiThe ones I want most are:Millenium FalconLuke, Han and Leia (normal outfits)CP30 Darth Vader, Maul, sideous grevious jar jar binks and padme
Plus, you need to understand that if GL and the people at Lucasfilms don’t sue, they may loose the ability to sue other parties that are using their intellectual property. If you own it, you have to actively protect it.
Apparently Lucas ripped off a lot of the people who worked on Star Wars, including the cast, most of whom never saw a dime from any of the merchandise that was sold with their likenesses.
Lucas didn’t rip off the people that worked in Star Wars. It’s common knowledge that the actors, as part of their contract, sign off on their likenesses. No one forced them to act in the movies much less sign the contracts. It is business moves like these that allow Lucas to continue to pump money back into the franchise for future products.
It is business moves like these that allow Lucas to keep milking his one and only cash cow further screwing the actors, designers, and other crew responsible for the success of that cow.
Fixed that for ya.
You must be a communist Alex
You must be a NeoCon, Chris.
It’s about being able to protect his own idea, Cdawg. Doesn’t matter if Lucas a billionaire. Nobody put a gun to this guy’s head to make stormtrooper helmets for an unknown sci-fi movie in the 70s. He willfully agreed to it and he got paid for the job. It’s still Lucas’ idea and he deserves the right to protect it.
His one and only cash cow? HA! So he didn’t have anything to do with Indiana Jones, THX, Pixar, LucasArts, etc. ?
Think before you speak Alex, and the people who think this lawsuit is unjustified and wrong are the reason why these laws need to exist, stop trying to cut corners and actually make something for yourselves.
I wish people would stop crediting Lucas for Pixar. He ABANDONED them, when they needed him most. It is Steve Jobs, who is responsible for Pixar’s survival and his credit. All Lucas ever wanted was MONEY. All Lucas still wants is MONEY. That chinless bas*ard. Lucas, make a DECENT MOVIE for a change, will ya?
Not interested in hearing about Lucas trying to “protect a property” which he has willfully damaged through updates and prequels. At this point, he’s just lucky that anyone (let alone the baffling hordes of fans) is interested in buying a replica stormtrooper helmet.
Boy, it sounds like most of you guys need to scamper back into the basement before mom finds out you were using the grown-ups computer.
Lucas is a tool, regardless of who’s right and who’s wrong. He’s just another Hollywood idiot who has no life.
He made the helmets, not George Lucas. If anything outside of the film studio, they are really his property. He designed them. He didn’t take someone else’s design and infringe it. Those helmets exist in the 1977 film due to the same guy that was selling them to fans in Britain. I don’t think this is that big of a deal. George Lucas had made enough money, it is not like he really needed to win this.
Wabba doo babba bomp bomp humma dump in a helmet boo badda foo.
I think that Lucas ran out of ideas a long time ago and is milking the frchsniae for all its worth. Sadly at this point there is no milk to be pulled and they are simply sucking the life force out of Star Wars now.I won’t see it if they release it. And I won’t see the animated AOTC that is to be released sometime this month. Lucas has plenty of my money. I lost count of the copies of the original tril that I own.PS- 3D in movies is overrated. I saw Superman Returns in the IMAX in 3D. While the scenes were solid it simply feels like a gimmick when its added. And in Star Wars? A movie that is months older then I am? No. Just no. Tie Fighters and X and Y wings flying into the screen does not make it worth the money.
Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away…I began farting in my pants, and little did I know that the fart I had been farting was actually a fat dump.
I pooped my pants.
This lawsuit smells as bad as the fat dump I took in my pants.
I took a dump more powerful then you can possibly imagine…
Read a lot of funny stuff on this web site, but your post is the funnist in a long time. May the force be with you.
Haha wow thats so immature and the fact that people thought it was funny was even more immature. LoL
Your just jealous
Lucas needs to be a verb for when something cool gets f*&^ed up due to some dauchebog at the top. Ex. The X-Men movies could have been cool, but then Bryan Singer had to go and Lucas them.
Ralph Mcquarie did the Intial designs of the helmet and most of the costumes etc… Then other people in design team took it into more detail before the sculpters did there work.
I’ve met Several sculpters designers from the Holy Trilogy and been told about it.
Lucasfilm is a controlling company after as much money as they can get as seen by the all the merch of good and crap quality over the years has been overkill.
It’s not just Lucas but his greedy board of directors who run Lucasfilm who sued, George himself is just at the top of the tree. There are also many poo quality dodgy rip off helmets on the Market made with cheap plastic.
George Lucas designed NOTHING. He is a writer, and a director. Other people did the design work. How much input did Andrew Ainsworth have? I don’t know, I haven’t spoken to him. But as someone else pointed out, Ralph McQuarrie was the initial concept artist (did you know that his original design for the SNOW-TROOPER was immediately chosen by Lucas to be the MANDALORIAN ARMOR worn by Boba Fett? He then went back to the drawing board to create what we now know as the SNOW-TROOPER. Neat factoid #1 !!!), and several other artists developed on his artwork, adding in the details. I have to wonder, how much those artists are getting from any settlements that Lucas wins. I bet they are getting the shaft. From Lucas. He’s keeping it all, every red cent the fat bastard. CKB.
George Lucas had to go through hell to get Star Wars made. It almsot killed him from the stress and pressure he felt. George was literally hospitalized at one point with chest pains. George wouldn’t of even gotten the finances for the film without the help of Francis Ford Coppola who was like a mentor and big brother to George in the film business. It was a miracle for George and the fans the first film came out as good as it did considering all the things that happened including a last minute edit of the final film.
Doesn’t matter who designed it. All the designers and artists were paid by the studio for their work at that time. If they wanted to have any cut of the profit for their work after that they should have negoiated a better deal with the studio before picking up a pencil. Fact is George was smart and got all the rights to his idea and his vision from the studio back in the day. I’m pretty sure that had Ainsworth gone to George and asked him about making the helmets that Lucas probably would have agreed and even if he didn’t, it’s his intellectual property. This guy didn’t design squat. He simply made them for the movie and kept the tools. If I was Lucas I would be doing the same thing. If I had an empire built on my intellectual property and someone was trying to make a profit off it without my consent you are damn right I’m gonna do something about it. In the end, it’s not about money. It’s about principle. The fact that Lucas is suing for large amounts is to dissuade others from doing what Ainsworth is doing.
Wow, there are some Morons in here! He has made millions and has sold more than a few to fans. Oh and by the way, Lucas was the main designer on the helmets and the other guy just built it and had the tools.
After 34 years this became a lawsuit?