Don’t Mess with George Lucas’ Storm Troopers
April 8, 2008 by Susan Gunelius
Filed under Marketing
The lawyers from George Lucas’ Lucasfilm Ltd. are busy protecting the iconic Star Wars Storm Troopers in a British court. It seems that the artist who sculpted the original molds for the Storm Trooper helmet and armor has been reselling replicas on his website. George Lucas cried trademark infringement and won a $20 million lawsuit against the artist, Andrew Ainsworth, in the United States in 2006. Now, Lucasfilm is trying to have that decision enforced in Britain claiming that a large team of people developed the design for the Storm Trooper helmet and armor a year before Ainsworth was tapped to create the mold.
Ainsworth is countersuing saying the he owns the trademark and Lucasfilm owes him a chunk of the merchandising revenue for the six films in the Star Wars series to the tune of $24 billion.
What do you think? Does Ainsworth have a chance? I doubt it. This doesn’t sound like a case of big business bullying the little guy. Unless Ainsworth has documented evidence that the trademark is his, I’m guessing he was paid to create the mold based on the designs provided to him by George Lucas and friends. If that is, in fact, the case, then I don’t think the force is with Mr. Ainsworth.
Photo Source: Flickr
