If you’re looking to build your own replica of the Batmobile, there may be another expense besides the cost of the car. You could owe royalties for the copyrighted design of the famous superhero car according to a judge’s ruling in California.
U.S. District Judge Ronald Lew has ruled that the design of the famous car is unique enough to qualify for copyright protection.
Last year, DC Comics, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., sued Mark Towles, who operated a business called “Gotham Garage,” which sold imitation batmobiles. DC, represented by attorney Andy Coombs, accused Towles of violating its copyright and trademark and confusing the public into thinking that his cars were authorized products.
Towles moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the Copyright Act affords no protection to “useful articles.”
But Judge Lew begs to differ, ruling that Towles “ignores the exception to the ‘useful article’ rule, which grants copyright protection to nonfunctional, artistic elements of an automobile design that can be physically or conceptually separated from the automobile.”
In other words, the judge looked at the Batmobile and found there were elements there that served no real purpose except it was pictorially unique. In the written opinion at least, the judge didn’t indicate what these were, but we’ll bet that the car didn’t have to be bat-shaped for it to be a crazy, cool ride.
The copyrightability of designs has been a hot topic of late in courts. Could Batman’s costume be copyrighted? A lawsuit claiming copyright infringement in superhero costumes was settled in December before a judge gave a firm answer. Could Batman’s furnished dark cave hideaway be copyrighted? Hard to say for sure, but a judge rejectedearlier this month a claim that furniture designs met the standard for being conceptually separable from their utilitarian purposes.
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