LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, the UK Supreme Court issued a split ruling in the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Lucasfilm involving the Stormtrooper costumes from Star Wars. The Court agreed that Mr. Ainsworth's replica costumes infringe Lucasfilm's US copyrights, and ruled that those rights are enforceable in the UK with respect to activities outside of the UK. This is the first time the Supreme Court has ruled on an issue of great commercial and legal importance, namely the jurisdiction of the courts in the UK over infringements taking place abroad. The judgment is an important step in modernizing UK law and bringing it into line with the EU.
The decision unfortunately also maintains an anomaly of British copyright law under which the creative and highly artistic works made for use in films -- which are protected by the copyright laws of virtually every other country in the world -- may not be entitled to copyright protection in the UK . Lucasfilm remains committed to aggressively protecting 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. We encourage the UK government’s recent efforts to modernize its copyright and design laws to afford full protection to three dimensional artistic works.
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