Nerd News: Fashion

Yesterday in London George Lucas turned to the Court of Appeals to fight Andrew Ainsworth (again) from selling replica Stormtrooper costumes. The armor was first sculpted in clay by Brian Muir, a sculptor from the LucasFilms and then Andrew used a mold of those clay sculptures to produce the suits. Star Wars IV: A New Hope then became a worldwide success, and Lucasfilm built up a licensing business for the manufacture of the helmets and armor. But Ainsworth kept the molds and started to sell versions to people all over the world. Lucas finds out and sues. A California judge agrees that it was in breach of copyright laws. But, a judge ruled the Stormtrooper suits were not covered by copyright because they were not “works of art.” That was July of last year. (FYI, there is a lot of stuff in between that happed, like a 150 page verdict and lots of he said/she said. But I have a point to get to, so this is the CliffsNotes version.)

Lucas’ lawyer, Michael Blosh, is strong with the force (a.k.a. legal know-how). He said, ''The question arising on this appeal concerns the scope and meaning of sculpture for the purposes of the Act.'' And if the high court was right - nothing in the film should be considered “art” sculptures. Blosh isn’t joking around about this and I fully agree. The judge said “it is an essential requirement of every sculpture that it have artistic character as part of its purpose, a visual appeal in the sense that it might be enjoyed for that purpose alone.”
My question: How doesn’t a film, which if you study film in college you spend 90% of your time studying Art in film, have “visual appeal?” In theatre you can get a whole degree on costume design! Everything must look interesting and attractive on stage, same for movies costumes. So…you can call one thing an egg and then call the same thing an apple only as long as it’s on film? Right.

But thankfully Lucas can afford good lawyers and followed up saying “this interpretation would lead to the result that statues of the Virgin Mary commissioned by churches and sold throughout the world would not be seen as sculptures because their primary purpose was non-artistic - as a focus for prayer.” ''On the erroneous approach of the learned judge, arguably the most famous sculpture in the world, Michelangelo's Pieta in St Peter's Basilica in Rome, would also be disqualified for the purposes of the Act.''

Which sounds way better than my idea of giving the judge the finger in a Jedi robe holding a lightsaber…but oddly it gives same effect.