^ Not because he used it, but because his use of it was as irrelevant and nonsensical as his use of the term "nigga-rich".

I find myself feeling much the same way as 005 on this topic. I'd much rather side with the little guy than the giant money making entity, but in this case it does feel like LFL should own the rights to the design. I actually agree it would be pretty cool to own a Storm Trooper helmet made by the guy who manufactured the original ones, but it also sounds like he uses a bit of dishonesty in his marketing (original molds, which would truly be something, but simply isn't true), but even so, he should be paying royalties like everyone else who manufactures and sells replicas. He didn't even design the thing in the first place, really doesn't feel like he should have any claim whatsoever on this.

I used to work in home construction, I worked on a few houses that used the same blue prints, I even made a few "deliberate creative decisions" along the way, adding my own signature to those houses, but it doesn't mean I have the right to go build that exact same house today. I have no claim to those blue prints, which are copyrighted material and belong to the contractor I worked for. If I went out and built a house on my own using his design, he'd have every right to sue me. In the same way, a guy who works at McDonald's for several years has no right to quit and go into business on his own making and selling his own Big Macs, even though he spent years "manufacturing" the things. A similar two patty hamburger under a different name would be just fine, but using the McDonald's trademarks to sell his burgers wouldn't.

If this guy hadn't been blatantly using LFL copyright logos and calling them the LFL trademarked name, I don't imagine we would ever have heard about this story, and even if we did, I think the guy would have had decent legs to stand on.