Mr Ainsworth, the original designer of the iconic Stormtrooper armour has won a copyright battle with Star Wars director George Lucas. Ainsworth first sold a piece of the armour in 2002 to pay school fees, receiving £60,000 at Christie's for the sale. Seeing the potential in this he started to sell to fans globally. Upon finding out about these sales Lucasarts sued Mr Ainsworth for $20m, stating that he did not own the property rights, a claim that was rebuffed by a US court; however, as Mr Ainsworth had no assets in the US it had to be settled in the UK, whereby a loophole allowed Mr Ainsworth to continue.
The Loophole being that if they were sold as industrial props then the initial 15 year copyright would only be applicable and thus running out, if, as Lucasarts claim, they has been sold as art or 3d sculptures, an authors +70 year copyright would have been enforced.
Ironically the funding for Mr Ainsworth case has come from sales of the incriminating items, "The way we've funded it [the case] is to make the characters, which is the ironic thing about it, it's really the empire striking back,".
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