Monday, August 1, 2011

More Lucas v Ainsworth


Here's the Reuters article from July 27, 2011, that gives us an update on the lawsuit between Lucasfilm and Andrew Ainsworth's Shepperton Design Studios surrounding the rights to replicate Stormtrooper armor and helmets. Lucasfilm won in California courts, but was recently ruled against in the UK. This essentially means that SDS can't ship to the States, but will continue producing armor.

The thing that bothers me the most is the fact that the High Court doesn't consider movie props and costumes to be works of art. That's just a slap in the face to everyone in the film industry including Andrew Ainsworth.

It also bothers me (to a lesser degree) that the media likes to use stock images/video of the 501st Legion to illustrate these articles, although SDS armor makes up a very small percentage of the suits worn by Legion members, mainly due to the price point of SDS's unlicensed product.