Hasta La Ideas

The old saying goes that there are two constants in life, death and taxes. But were we to revise the list, we would say “death, taxes, and the legal battle between George Lucas and Andrew Ainsworth.” You might recall our last post about that new addition toward the end of 2008, when a lawsuit was finally settled between the two, with Ainsworth, the designer of the original Stormtrooper costume from Star Wars, being found by the British court to have broken US copyright laws by continuing to sell replicas of the outfits without Lucas’ permission. But it wasn’t a total victory, as the judge also ruled that Ainsworth wouldn’t have to pay any fines and he still hadn’t broken any intellectual property laws in the UK. Now, because this issue will likely go on forever, Lucas’ team has decided to try again in court by claiming the Stormtrooper attire are pieces of art and thus, copies should be punishable by British law and Ainsworth will need to shut down and pay up. It should make for an interesting trial, given Ainsworth’s hand in the original creation of the works of art in question.

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