High Court considers UK and US copyright in Star Wars "Stormtrooper" costume

In a dispute involving copyright in the helmet and armour of the "Stormtrooper" soldiers from the first Star Wars film, the High Court has dismissed the claimant film makers' action for infringement of UK copyright. Mann J held that neither items were artistic works and that the defendants, who were producing replica items from original moulds, had a defence under sections 51 and 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Mann J declined to enforce a US judgment obtained against the defendants, but agreed to consider the US copyright, which he found had been infringed. There are many interesting aspects of Mann J's judgment, but perhaps the most noteworthy is his consideration of the jurisdictional issues. His ruling means that the English court can, in principle, consider questions of infringement of foreign copyright from countries outside the Brussels Convention, as well as (as had been the case following Pearce v Ove Arup [2000] Ch 403) within it. Mann J has also gone a step further than the Court of Appeal in Ove Arup, by not ruling out the possibility that the court can also consider the subsistence of foreign copyright.

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