In LucasFilm Ltd v. Ainsworth, the Court of Appeal of England & Wales recently dismissed an appeal by LucasFilm against a first instance decision denying protection under UK copyright law to the helmets and armour of the Stormtroopers featured in the first Star Wars film and allowed a cross-appeal by the defendant against the decision of the trial court which accepted a claim against him under US copyright law (which was held to have been infringed by the defendant through sales of Stormtrooper costumes and models to US customers). Both issues-the availability of copyright protection under UK law to design items and works of applied art and the issue of the enforcement of foreign intellectual property rights in the UK-are fraught with difficulties and have had a long and complex legal history in legislation and judicial case law.
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