Prop-maker strikes back at George Lucas

The man who created the iconic white helmets and body armour of the Star Wars stormtroopers is due to begin an epic battle with the film's director George Lucas [pictured]. The director's company, Lucasfilm, is suing British prop designer Andrew Ainsworth for £10m after he began reproducing outfits from the original moulds and selling them to film fans for up to £1,800 each. Ainsworth, meanwhile, is countersuing Lucasfilm for a slice of the £6bn in worldwide merchandise sales, generated since the film series began in 1977.

Ainsworth was recruited in 1976 to design some "spooky white space armour" for the Stormtroopers, Darth Vader's evil henchmen in the 1977 film that starred Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. But in 2004, the prop designer who went on to create the face-sucking monster for Ridley Scott's Alien films, discovered one of the original helmets he had made in a cupboard at his London home and began to manufacture the uniforms. He told the Guardian: "As far as I am concerned I am the original maker and I'm using the original moulds."

In 2006 a California judge awarded Lucas $20m in damages, but for the ruling to be enforced the case needs to be heard in Britain where Ainsworth lives. The case starts on Tuesday at London's High Court where the prop designer's lawyers will argue that the uniforms' copyright has expired because the outfits were industrial designs rather than works of art.

A Lucas Licensing spokesman said: "Anyone who tried to profit from using our copyrights and trademarks without authorisation... we will go after them."