Posts Tagged: "Batman"

Japan Patent Office Reverses Initial Refusal of ‘Gotham City’ Trademark

The Appeal Board of Japan Patent Office (JPO) has reversed an initial decision by JPO examiner to refuse the mark “GOTHAM CITY” with a logo, and ordered to grant protection for the mark by decision of March 14, 2017 [Appeal case no. 2016-9140]. The JPO decision states that consumers are unlikely to confuse or associate the mark “GOTHAM CITY” with Batman’s place of residence and DC Comics when used on apparel, bags and fashion accessories.

To the Batmobile! Copyright Saves the Day in Gotham City

Mark Towle owns Gotham Garage, which manufactures and sells replicas of automobiles featured in famous motion pictures and television programs. Gotham Garage specifically sold fully constructed cars as well as kits which allow customers to modify their car to look like the Batmobile, and advertised its replicas as “Batmobiles” while marketing its business via the domain name batmobilereplicas.com. In May 2011, DC Comics filed suit against Towle for copyright infringement, trademark infringement and unfair competition arising out of Towle’s marketing and sale of Batmobile replicas. Towle countered that the Batmobile – at least as it appeared in the famous 1966 television series and the 1989 motion picture, the main inspirations for Gotham Garage’s designs – was not subject to copyright protection.

Replica Batmobile on Trial for Copyright, Trademark Infringement

The Batmobile namesake owners are doing battle over replicas of this very car. DC Comics, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., is pushing a lawsuit against California custom paint and auto body shop, Gotham Garage. Owned and operated by Mark Towle of Santa Ana. Gotham Garage specializes in customizing replicas of the various Batman vehicles. This lawsuit started nearly 2 years ago, when Warner Bros. claimed that Towle’s business was violating copyrights and trademarks that are owned by DC Comics.