Death Star Battle Over Storm Trooper Costumes Decided

It’s difficult to tell who won in a court case over Star Wars Storm Trooper costumes decided today. George Lucas and Lucasfilm sued designer Andrew Ainsworth, who created the Storm Trooper helmets to go with the costumes, and has been selling replicas on a website to U.S. customers. The British judge declined to enforce a U.S. judgment awarded to Mr. Lucas in 2006, saying the amount Mr. Ainsworth had earned was too trivial to allow the British courts to take jurisdiction, and he ruled that any claim under English copyright law had expired. But he also told Mr. Ainsworth that he did not have a copyright over the costumes. Read more here in an AP story. Here’s more from the Guardian. Check out the case here, Obi-Wan.