Exhibit A, m'lud, a helmet for a stormtrooper

The Stars Wars stormtrooper has terrified a generation of film-goers since the film director George Lucas launched them in a galaxy far, far away.

Tomorrow the empire's henchmen will be at the centre of a battle in the UK's Supreme Court, when Lucas attempts to stop the British designer who made the first helmets from continuing to make and sell them. The film mogul's company Lucasfilm claims Andrew Ainsworth, from Twickenham, who makes replicas to sell to fans, is breaching its copyright.

The case revolves around Mr Ainsworth's argument that he made the original helmets seen in the film, based on 2D artwork. After solving the technical problems he made 50 stormtrooper helmets and other body armour for the first Star Wars film.

In 2004, Mr Ainsworth began making the helmets again and selling them to fans going to fancy-dress parties. After some were sold in the US, Lucasfilm successfully sued Mr Ainsworth for $20m and then pursued him to Britain to enforce the judgment and establish its copyright in the UK. But when the firm argued that the uniforms were works of art and entitled to protection for 70 years plus the life of the artist, it lost. Judges in the High Court and the Appeal Court rejected the idea that the helmets were the equivalent of sculptures.

The ruling that helmets are just industrial props rather than artworks sent a chill through Hollywood and spin-off merchandising industries for whom the Star Wars market has raked in an estimated $7bn since 1977.

Lucas is now taking his fight to the UK's highest court to overturn the decision. Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Jon Landau and Peter Jackson are among those backing him.

In a letter to be submitted to this week's hearing, Spielberg says: "The court was wrong in this case and has placed the UK at odds with the world community and, perhaps most disturbing, the creative community. This ruling must be reversed."

The Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson, said: "The UK's long-standing reputation as a creative hub and a centre for film production is significantly threatened. To assert a film's props and visuals are not the product of an artistic endeavour and therefore not worthy of copyright protection is ridiculous. This short-sighted and ill-informed ruling will do incalculable damage. No other country in the world takes such a position."

Mr Ainsworth remains defiant. "I created it all originally and he made a film of it. The copyright for three-dimensional work is invested in me but I didn't do anything about it for 30 years, as English people don't. We won in the High Court and the Appeal Court, but he has got so much money he can convince the Supreme Court it's got to be done again. What he is after is to change the law, to change European law."

A Lucasfilm spokeswoman said: "These works of art should receive the full protection of UK copyright law, just as they do in the rest of the world."

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