The Stormtrooper stood at the side of court 52 against a row of leatherbound legal tomes, facing the judge. At his side was another full-sized model of a fighter pilot from the forces of Emperor Palpatine.

The two characters from Star Wars stood at the shoulder of Michael Bloch QC, who is representing Lucasfilm - the company behind the 1977 film - in a multi-million pound claim against a British prop designer for infringement of Stormtrooper copyright.

They remained impassive as Mr Bloch laid out the case against Andrew Ainsworth of Twickenham, as if they represented his personal galactic security detail.

Mr Ainsworth cast over fifty Stormtrooper helmets and suits for Lucasfilm in 1976. In 2004 he discovered one of the originals in a cupboard and went into business manufacturing them once more for discerning Star Wars fans.

Lucasfilm reacted with the swiftness of an imperial force moving to crush a rebel uprising. In a court in California in 2006 a judge awarded it $20m in damages for copywrite infringement against Mr Ainsworth’s firm Shepperton Design Studios.

Mr Ainsworth was unable to contest the case due to lack of funds, and the legal armies of Lucasfilm have now landed in Britain to enforce that decision.

Faced with this onslaught, Mr Ainsworth doubtless felt like an Ewok facing an army of Stormtroopers on the forest moon of Endor. He appealed for representation and the London firm SimmonsCooperAndrew agreed to conduct the case on a conditional fee arrangement.

Rising before Mr Justice Mann to put the case for the claimant, Mr Bloch gestured to a row of tables at the front of the courtroom, upon which stood eight helmets, built for creatures from a galaxy far far away. There were Stormtrooper heads, helmets for imperial and rebel alliance fighter pilots, and the head of a Tusken Raider from the planet Tatooine.

“The gentlemen in the front row, who will be known no doubt to millions of people all round the world, are the subject matter of the entire case,” he said.

He felt that some precision was needed when discussing the central alien form in the case. “As far as we know they are half human and half-cloned warriors known as stormtroopers,” he said. “What we are dealing with is characters of the imagination.” Behind him, the stormtrooper made no attempt to contradict this statement.

They were, he said, no more real than a cyclops from classical mythology. “A question that may arise is whether the law treats them any differently.”

Mr Ainsworth’s legal team will claim that the copyright on the Stormtrooper’s form has expired because it was a piece of industrial design rather than a work of art. It may thus be the lot of Mr Justice Mann to consider the black eyed plastic faces and ask himself: ‘Is it art?’

Mr Bloch said: “We would say the the stormtrooper helmet and armour both complete one of the most iconic images in modern culture.”

He stressed “the artistic nature of what was being created.”

“We will be hearing from many extremely talented people,” he said. “Artists who have won academy awards for the work they have done on the Star Wars films.”

The stormtrooper design, he said, had been worked on considerably by the time Mr Ainsworth became involved in the project. The artist Ralph McQuarrie had been hired by George Lucas to first envision these warriors.

He said McQuarrie believed they would require a hard shell and breathing apparatus, allowing them to safely board an alien ship.

In actual fact the suit would “not stand you in good stead if you were outer space,” he said. “It probably wouldn’t be much good if you were a Secretary of State in Peckham,” he added, referencing Harriet Harman’s recent much-publicised walk-about in a flak jacket. She would be ill-advised to conduct the same risky walk in a Stormtrooper uniform.

He acknowledged that there was some artistry on the part of Mr Ainsworth in creating the helmets: Mr Ainsworth claimed he had cast them with subtle differences. Mr Justice Mann suggested that some “looked a bit more cross” than others.

Mr Bloch replied that he was unsure “how a Stormtrooper expresses anger.” The stormtrooper remained silent.

He claimed, nonetheless, that the stormtrooper was not a concept Mr Ainsworth had created. Mr Ainsworth’s barrister will argue that if the copyright on the warrior props had not expired, that the copyright was always vested in Mr Ainsworth as there was no formal contract. Mr Ainsworth will then counterclaim for a cut of the profits that Lucasfilm has amassed in merchandising since 1977.

Mr Bloch said that he “must have known” that he was working on a film when he was commissioned to create 50 helmets. “He was not asserting any rights then and it is equally obvious that he would never have got the order if he had asserted any rights whatsoever,” he said.

The hearing continues.

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