Summary
The claimants were companies involved in the production of the “Star Wars” film. The defendant made the armour (versions of which he was selling to the general public). The claim was for copyright infringement, damages and injunctive relief.
An important issue whether the English had jurisdiction in relation to an US copyright infringement. This raised an issue whether the claims for a foreign copyright infringement were justiciable. Having answered this question in affirmative, the English High Court assumed jurisdiction under Article 2 of Brussels I.
An appeal was made to the Court of Appeal. The appeal was allowed on the non-justiciability point. On 16th December 2009, the CA held that:
“174 […] We have decided that there is no binding authority. So we must decide now whether English law regards claims for infringement of foreign, non-EU (or Lugano) copyrights as non-justiciable here. We so hold. We do so for the following reasons.” [2009] EWCA Civ 1328 [174]
Another appeal was made before the UK Supreme Court. The UK Supreme Court held the claims were justiciable, and the English courts had jurisdiction under Article 2.