Property Rights: Star Wars Case Study

Star Wars Article Summary

After a five year case, the designer who created the original Stormtrooper helmets for Star Wars has won a copyright battle with director George Lucas over his right to sell replicas. The case was settled in the highest court.

The designer, Andrew Ainsworth, spent half a decade and £700,000  fighting the movie’s legal team.
Andrew faced challenges, such as bailiffs at his door demanding £12m and has defended the attack in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court (not to mention the US). 

Andrew Ainsworth, who is also a father-of-two, has been selling his plastic composite helmets and body armour work from his Twickenham based studio for eight years now.
In 2002, he struggled to afford to pay school fees, so he sold a helmet and other “bits and pieces” that where aside in his room and of no use to him.

Andrew managed to earn £60,000 at Christie’s auction house, making him realise his works potential.
Mr. Ainsworth said: “The phone didn't stop ringing… I dug out the old moulds, cleaned them down and made a few helmets”. 
Fans of the movie franchise recognised his work as the real thing, but by the time about 19 were sold to the US, Lucas had also sold the same amount. 
Lucasfilm sued for $20m in 2004, arguing that Ainsworth did not hold any intellectual property rights and had no rights to sell the work (this point was upheld by a US court). Despite this, the battle had to move over to the UK as the designer held no assets in the US. 

No paperwork was ever signed between the Lucas and Mr. Ainsworth, however is was an “implied contract”.
The High Court rejected the multi-billionaire director’s claim, switching the focus of the case to the design rights, specifically wether the helmets were art or industrial props. 

Comments

  1. JCoSS Media Dept17 December 2017 at 14:13

    The title should read Intellectual Property Rights: Star Wars case study, so that you remember what it is when revising. Please amend.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Notes On Low Budget Film Making

Low Budget Film Making   Resource Film Making: List locations (local events — free production value)—> What access do you have? List actors —> Rely on friends and family —> If experienced then get extras. List equipment —> e.g. Cameras, lights (borrow or rent instead of buying to save money) List of props. Writing The Script: 4 or 5 main locations —> minimise travel costs. Try to keep the amount characters to a minimum —> 4 or 5. Write the script based on actors strengths. Avoid scenes with extras —> e.g. a bar scene in an empty bar is unrealistic. Avoid night scenes —> Unless experienced with lighting. Avoid CGI —> Costly & time consuming. Pre-Production: Location scout. Actor & equipment availability. The more planning, the easier the process.  Production: Simplify work flow. Bulk meals —> For the cast/crew. Best time to film is during ‘magic hour’—> sunset —> Easy lighting. Post-Produc...
Read more

Prezzi links: Regulators

  http://prezi.com/1y2gbv03jf1a/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy   http://prezi.com/1y2gbv03jf1a/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy   https://prezi.com/p/djnz1zkpqpm5/   https://prezi.com/p/6_opex3kka00/   https://prezi.com/p/6_opex3kka00/ Our class created these Prezzi's gathering information on different types of regulators. We researched who they are and what they do. This will be useful for revision as it can help us to better understand how and why these regulators are in place.
Read more