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.
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. On 27 July 2011, Lord Walker and Lord Collins (with whom the other judges agreed) held:
“105 We have come to the firm conclusion that, in the case of a claim for infringement of copyright of the present kind, the claim is one over which the English court has jurisdiction, provided that there is a basis for in personam jurisdiction over the defendant, or, to put it differently, the claim isjusticiable. […]
[…]
108 There is no doubt that the modern trend is in favour of the enforcement of foreign intellectual property rights. First, article 22(4) of the Brussels I Regulation only assigns exclusive jurisdiction to the country where the right originates in cases which are concerned with registration or validity of rights which are “required to be deposited or registered” and does not apply to infringement actions in which there is no issue as to validity. This can rarely, if ever, apply to copyright.” [2011] UKSC 39 [105 and 108].