UK High Court Rules against Lucasfilm
minigeff
EnglandPosts: 7,884MI6 Agent
If this should be in news, then apologies, i pooped it into the merch section cos its related to merch production.
Put simply, the UK high court has ruled that prop maker andrew ainsworth is free to produce star wars merchandise without infringing copyright law. The reason for this is beacuse the UK high court does not see film props as works of art produced by 'a renowned artist'.
Now although this is star wars stuff, this obviously has massive implications with the guys who make official licenced stuff, but also the guys who make it in their spare time for shits n giggles.
Now because of this ruling in the courts, it would seem that anyone who makes stuff without permission isn't breaking any copyright laws (apparently).
The ruling is only valid in the UK obviously, as the US have different copyright laws.
Lucasfilm are appealling, so it seems the story isn't over yet.
To be honest, with it going to appeal etc, I would strongly recommend that if anyone wants to make props without any filmakers permission, they either seek proper legal advise or just keep it under the table.
Cheers peoples,
MG -{
ps, heres a link that might prove interesting for some;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/6826027/Star-Wars-propmaker-wins-battle-against-George-Lucas.html
Put simply, the UK high court has ruled that prop maker andrew ainsworth is free to produce star wars merchandise without infringing copyright law. The reason for this is beacuse the UK high court does not see film props as works of art produced by 'a renowned artist'.
Now although this is star wars stuff, this obviously has massive implications with the guys who make official licenced stuff, but also the guys who make it in their spare time for shits n giggles.
Now because of this ruling in the courts, it would seem that anyone who makes stuff without permission isn't breaking any copyright laws (apparently).
The ruling is only valid in the UK obviously, as the US have different copyright laws.
Lucasfilm are appealling, so it seems the story isn't over yet.
To be honest, with it going to appeal etc, I would strongly recommend that if anyone wants to make props without any filmakers permission, they either seek proper legal advise or just keep it under the table.
Cheers peoples,
MG -{
ps, heres a link that might prove interesting for some;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/6826027/Star-Wars-propmaker-wins-battle-against-George-Lucas.html
'Force feeding AJB humour and banter since 2009'
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Vive le droit à la libre expression! Je suis Charlie!
www.helpforheroes.org.uk
www.cancerresearchuk.org
Comments
www.sdsprops.com
DG
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
ah, that kinda helps matters for him then i guess. lol, sorry peeps, musta missed that bit of info.
cheers for the correction DG, "zis is al rartha imbarressing, i don't know whot to say"
Vive le droit à la libre expression! Je suis Charlie!
www.helpforheroes.org.uk
www.cancerresearchuk.org
No problemo. I like Star Wars, but I don't collect it. I sometimes follow the threads over at the RPF. When this company came out with the storm trooper helmets first, it was big news. It also caused Lucasfilm to go balistic. It's been an on-going court saga.
DG
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
Austin Powers says that.