George Lucas claims to love the Star Wars franchise, but he sure does seem to go out of his way to try and stop other people from enjoying it. In addition to spending the last 14 years doing his absolute best to destroy the series' legacy, he has also sued or threatened to sue multiple people who he sees as stealing money from him but are more than likely just trying to express their fandom. Just take a look at this story from a few weeks ago, when a guy in New York was forced to shut down his small, free Star Wars marathon because Lucas' lawyers threatened to sue the pants off him. Fortunately today the Empire was dealt a loss.

The BBC reports that prop designer Andrew Ainsworth has emerged victorious from a copyright battle with George Lucas. The designer of the first stormtrooper helmet back in 1977, Ainsworth was fighting for his right to sell costume replicas and the judge ruled in his favor. The case was a long fought fight, lasting more than half a decade and costing Ainsworth £700,000 in legal fees. The prop designer has been selling replica stormtrooper helmets and armor for eight years now out of his studio in Twickenham, and began doing so when he needed money to pay school fees.

The legal battle began in 2004 when Lucas sued him for $20 million in the US, claiming that Ainsworth didn't have the intellectual property rights. While the US courts agreed, it couldn't be enforced because Ainsworth was in the UK, so the battleground moved. Said the prop designer about the win, "You've got to decide right at the start, can you afford the downside? And you've got to be able to live with it and be under no disillusions that if it all goes wrong, you're scuppered, you're bankrupt... I think if you're in a small business on your own you know the bottom line."

Congratulations, Mr. Ainsworth. You've spent the last few years fighting for your rights as an artist and prevented the fruits of your hard labor from going to a man who forgot the definition of art years ago. Bravo.