Simon Bradshaw (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
major_clanger) wrote2008-04-08 06:16 pm
major_clanger) wrote2008-04-08 06:16 pm
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The Copyright is Strong in This One...
I'd vaguely been planning on sitting in on some High Court cases regarding intellectual property over the next few months, but when I saw a reference to a particular copyright case due to start today I just knew I had to drop everything and head on over to the Royal Courts of Justice. After all, how often do you get the chance to see an Imperial Stormtrooper in court?
I'm not kidding. Lucasfilm v Ainsworth is being heard in Court 52, one of the modern courtrooms in the Thomas More tower at the RCJ (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bugshaw and purplecthulhu would recognise it; it's identical to the courtroom where B's case against her stepmother was heard). The frontmost desk, right in front of Mr Justice Mann, held a range of hemlets and props, in the shape of Stormtrooper and TIE Pilot helmets, a Tusken Raider head and a dismantled set of Stormtrooper armour, whilst a pair of mannequins on the left hand side of the courtroom next to the racked shelves of law reports displayed a full Stormtrooper armour set and another TIE helmet. Almost as soon as we had started, the Judge asked lead counsel for Lucasfilm if the assorted characters would be there throughout the trial. Michael Bloch QC suggested that they would, noting that they were unlikely to rustle papers or make mobile phone calls so should not pose much risk of disturbing proceedings...
This report on the case sums up the issues well. At heart it is like many other copyright cases: the central question is whether the creative work under dispute was produced by someone under employment or as an independent contractor. On the basis of the opening arguments today though there will be some other issues brought into play, such as the extent to which Mr Ainsworth originated elements of the costume designs or simply implemented designs produced by conceptual artists such as Ralph McQuarrie. (McQuarrie, a noted SF designer, won't be appearing in person, but has given a written witness statement.) It also seems that there will be an argument over the extent to which the Stormtrooper armour is a creative artwork - in effect, a sculpture - or more of a prototype product design, like a shoe or handbag. This is important because the protection given to product designs is much shorter than that which subsists in copyright. In a nutshell, it looks like Mr Ainsworth will be arguing that the Stormtrooper armour is protected by design right, not copyright, and if so then the design protection has expired, or alternatively if it is protected by copyright, then said copyright rests at least in part with him. Lucasfilm will be arguing that copyright is the appropriate form of protection, and that Mr Ainsworth either didn't create the helmet design or that if he did so it was for them and that they thus own the copyright.
The case is apparently scheduled to last ten days. This may sound a lot but it is clear that there will be a lot of evidence for Mr Justice Mann to pore over regarding the creative process behind the films - a matter not made easier by the key events having taken place more than thirty years ago. I won't have time to follow the whole case in court but I'll see if I can pop in again in a few days' time, hopefully when there is some more substantive legal discussion of the IP issues at hand.
I'm not kidding. Lucasfilm v Ainsworth is being heard in Court 52, one of the modern courtrooms in the Thomas More tower at the RCJ (
bugshaw and purplecthulhu would recognise it; it's identical to the courtroom where B's case against her stepmother was heard). The frontmost desk, right in front of Mr Justice Mann, held a range of hemlets and props, in the shape of Stormtrooper and TIE Pilot helmets, a Tusken Raider head and a dismantled set of Stormtrooper armour, whilst a pair of mannequins on the left hand side of the courtroom next to the racked shelves of law reports displayed a full Stormtrooper armour set and another TIE helmet. Almost as soon as we had started, the Judge asked lead counsel for Lucasfilm if the assorted characters would be there throughout the trial. Michael Bloch QC suggested that they would, noting that they were unlikely to rustle papers or make mobile phone calls so should not pose much risk of disturbing proceedings...This report on the case sums up the issues well. At heart it is like many other copyright cases: the central question is whether the creative work under dispute was produced by someone under employment or as an independent contractor. On the basis of the opening arguments today though there will be some other issues brought into play, such as the extent to which Mr Ainsworth originated elements of the costume designs or simply implemented designs produced by conceptual artists such as Ralph McQuarrie. (McQuarrie, a noted SF designer, won't be appearing in person, but has given a written witness statement.) It also seems that there will be an argument over the extent to which the Stormtrooper armour is a creative artwork - in effect, a sculpture - or more of a prototype product design, like a shoe or handbag. This is important because the protection given to product designs is much shorter than that which subsists in copyright. In a nutshell, it looks like Mr Ainsworth will be arguing that the Stormtrooper armour is protected by design right, not copyright, and if so then the design protection has expired, or alternatively if it is protected by copyright, then said copyright rests at least in part with him. Lucasfilm will be arguing that copyright is the appropriate form of protection, and that Mr Ainsworth either didn't create the helmet design or that if he did so it was for them and that they thus own the copyright.
The case is apparently scheduled to last ten days. This may sound a lot but it is clear that there will be a lot of evidence for Mr Justice Mann to pore over regarding the creative process behind the films - a matter not made easier by the key events having taken place more than thirty years ago. I won't have time to follow the whole case in court but I'll see if I can pop in again in a few days' time, hopefully when there is some more substantive legal discussion of the IP issues at hand.