Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Court of Appeal (England and Wales) strikes out Tyburn unjust enrichment claim over Peter Cushing CGI 'resurrection'; no rights transferred and Lucasfilm not enriched at Tyburn's expense

Published on: 06 January 2026

Published by a Law360 reporter

Legal News

Article summary

The Court of Appeal agreed

The Court of Appeal confirmed that an earlier arrangement Peter Cushing made before his death, granting Tyburn Film Productions the right to digitally ‘resurrect’ him after 1994 to finish a different film, had no impact on the Cushing estate’s deal with Lucasfilm. As the judges could find no right transferred between Tyburn and Lucasfilm, there was no basis for saying Lucasfilm was ‘unjustly enriched’ at Tyburn’s expense, the court ruled. The judgment observed that the point at which a defendant’s enrichment is at a claimant’s expense remains uncertain, and that drawing the boundary between sound and defective claims is often difficult; this was not the moment to attempt to resolve it. At most, the estate may have breached an earlier contract with Tyburn concerning use of Cushing’s likeness, but Tyburn did not plead any such case, the judges held. Tyburn brought proceedings against Lucasfilm in 2021, asserting that it had made a 1994 agreement with Peter Cushing allowing them to ‘resurrect’ him using body doubles and digital effects if...

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