Really i don't understand all the panic or worry.
Studios even if this case affected anyone else would still have exclusive rights in the UK for 15 or 25 years, some might argue that's plenty of time to have a monopoly of a product, infact that's the sole reason these laws were invented in the first place so no company has a monopoly forever.
Even after that 15 or 25 years the studio is still free to produce goods they simply have some competition in the marketplace, seems ironic that a country of capitalists would seek to destroy the possibility of a free market and competition to me.
Of course there are also other ways to protect your property such as protecting names or logos etc which don't expire this is why Ainsworth cant use the imperial or rebel logos on his products for example.
And wheres the evidence that competition would affect sales of studio produced or licensed goods anyway ?
Have any of the copious amounts of bootleg stormtrooper armour producers including SDS prevented sales of products produced by MR or eFX ?
There will always be suckers for a brand name and official logo.
Studios will still make their money either way, don't for a second think this is about studios losing revenue because it isn't, it's about studios wanting a monopoly forever.
And lets be honest props are really a niche market, especially props from a movie or tv show thats 25 years old.
The majority of movies and tv shows don't hold much of a public interest for that period of time and then the majority of people still with interest in them don't really have an interest in owning expensive replica props from them.
Studios make by far the majority of their money from a franchise in the first few years and from mass market products.
Franchises like Star Wars are very rare beasts.
