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In 1976, Lucas Films invited Andrew Ainsworth to create the helmet and armour to be worn by the Stormtrooper characters in the Star Wars films. Lucas Films gave Mr Ainsworth two drawings of the Stormtroopers and a prototype helmet. Moulds were made to produce the helmets and the armour. The moulds were kept and in 2004 Ainsworth set up a website to sell helmets and armour made using the moulds. Most of the sales were made in the USA, although Ainsworth was resident in the UK. Lucas Films sued for infringement of copyright in California. They won the action, were awarded $10 million and now sought...

In the first trial of its kind in the UK, Alan Ellis, the owner of www.oink.me.uk (later, www.oink.cd) was found not guilty, by a unanimous jury verdict at Teesside Crown Court, notwithstanding the fact that “[t]he Court of Appeal has twice ruled that complicated matters of copyright should not be heard in the crown court but the in Chancery Division of the High Court.” The charge was “conspiring with others unknown to defraud such persons as have an interest in musical works, sound recordings and in the rights and performance of music.” As the Judge, Tony Briggs, said, “Put very simply it is suggested...

The BBC is mentioned in the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which provides a right of access to official information. However, it is only covered in relation to information held “for purposes other than those of journalism, art or literature.” The High Court has clarified the meaning of this position, following other litigation concerning the scope of the appeal procedures in such cases (see IRIS 2009-4: 11). The case concerned an internal review of BBC coverage of Middle Eastern Affairs based on a report commissioned from a senior journalist; it included consideration of the impartiality of the...

The Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of the Competition Commission and the Secretary of State for Business and Enterprise requiring BSkyB to reduce its 17.9% holding in ITV plc to below 7.5%, in rejection of an appeal of the decision of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (for earlier discussions of this long-running saga, see IRIS 2007-10: 14/23, IRIS 2008-3: 13/19 and IRIS 2008- 10: 12/18). The basis for the decision to require divestment was that the acquisition of the shares had created a “relevant merger situation” which resulted in a “substantial lessening of competition” under the Enterprise...

The BBC Trust, which approves new BBC ventures, has conditionally approved Project Canvas. This is an open joint venture between the BBC and five other partners, including the other UK public service broadcasters, to develop a common standard permitting a viewer with a broadband connection to watch on-demand services, such as BBC iPlayer, the ITV Player and other internet content, on a television set. The content will be accessed through a set-top box attached to the internet; no subscription will be payable except for the broadband connection. The Trust conducted a public value assessment of the...