Lucasfilm v Ainsworth: the Supreme Court's First IP Appeal
.jpg)
By TalkTuahLunchly - Own work, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=195954134 Jane Lambert Supreme Court (Lord Phillips, President, Lord Walker, Lady Hale, Lord Mance and Lord Collins) Lucasfilm Ltd and others v Ainsworth and another [2011] 4 All ER 817, [2011] FSR 41, [2012] 1 AC 208, [2011] 3 WLR 487, [2011] Bus LR 1211, [2012] 1 All ER (Comm) 1011, [2011] ECDR 21, [2011] UKSC 39, [2012] EMLR 3 Had Mr Andrew Ainsworth started making "imperial stormtrooper" helmets when Star Wars was first released, rather than in 2004, it ought to have been possible to stop him. As Lord Walker observed in paragraph 2 of his judgment in Lucasfilm Ltd. and Others v Ainsworth and Another [2011] UKSC 39, Mr Lucas’s concept of the Imperial Stormtroopers as threatening characters in “fascist white-armoured suits” was given visual expression in drawings and paintings by an artist, Mr Ralph McQuarrie. Assuming that Mr. McQuarrie was a "qualified person" wit...