helmets

British Court Says Stormtrooper Helmets Aren’t Art

For years George Lucas has been trying to get British courts to force Andrew Ainsworth to stop selling replica Stormtrooper costumes and helmets. And for years he’s failed. Now Britain’s Supreme Court has dealt Lucas the ultimate blow, ruling that Ainsworth can sell the costumes because they are film props and not art, as Lucas’s lawyers argued, and are therefore subject to much more relaxed copyright laws. Of course, the five-judge panel, all of them surely huge geeks, couldn’t let the opportunity to kiss Lucas’s ass pass them by, writing in the decision: “[I]t was the ‘Star Wars’ film that was the work of art that Mr. Lucas and his companies created. The helmet was utilitarian.” [AP]

British Court Says Stormtrooper Helmets Aren’t Art