Seems like it. And now a custom car maker who goes by the name of Gotham Garage will have to prove that it did not infringe DC Comics’ copyright to the Batmobile. You see, Gotham Garage decided to build and sell replica Batmobiles — without DC Comics’ permission. DC Comics flew out of their bat cave (lower case “b” so as to not run the possibility of infringing DC Comics’ trademark) and sued Gotham Garage claiming copyright infringement, trademark infringement, trademark counterfeiting, unfair competition under the Lanham Act, and common law unfair competition.  Yikes!

Anyhow, Judge Ronald Lew, of the Central District of California, found that Gotham Garage’s claim that the Batmobile was not protected by copyright to be, let’s just say, pure bat guano, meaning it had no teeth. Gotham Garage will now have to answer DC’s allegations that the full-size, drivable Batmobile replicas infringe DC’s rights to the car’s design.

For those of a legal persuasion, the case is DC Comics v. Mark Towle et al (2:11-cv-03934).

Via the Hollywood Reporter and Mr. Pink.

They probably did, and their customer service response didn’t make things any better. Thanks to our good friend Amanda Sitzer for the heads up.

An interesting tale as told by Joan Crosby Tibbetts, daughter of Skippy cartoonist, Percy L. Crosby.

My father and his character licensing corporation, Skippy, Inc., owned many federal Skippy trademarks for ice cream, candy, bread, toys, dolls, books, film rights, and so on. But in 1933, the Rosefield Packing Company, then bankrupt, attempted to register Skippy peanut butter in U.S. Patent Office as its federal trademark. Skippy, Inc. sued and won, but Rosefield continued to expand its business, over my father’s protests.

From IBM, UPS, and Ford, to Wal Mart, Shell, Apple, and BP.

Via Inc. magazine.

You’d think people would be smart enough to stay away from motorcycle “groups.” Guess not.

The Hells Angels are suing Amazon and a boutique called Wildfox for using the group’s trademark name, Hells Angels, on t-shirts. “My Boyfriend’s a Hells Angel.” It’s cute, but simultaneously stupid. Note, the article mentions a copyright lawsuit, but we think they actually mean trademark infringement. Very, very different.

Previous Hells Angels lawsuit here.

A federal judge awarded toy company MGA Entertainment Inc. more than $309 million in damages, fees and other costs in its long-running battle with Mattel Inc. over the billion-dollar Bratz doll line.?

Via the LA Times. Background here.

Newspaper patterns, cutting up fabric. From PublicDomainPictures.net

A bit over a year ago I wrote about how artists were becoming better educated in the legal issues affecting their art projects (Why is Copyright (Suddenly) a Hot Topic for Artists?). It now seems like craftspeople are also getting in on the fun. The Seattle Times ran a story last Friday, Crafters Urged to Get Educated on Copyrights, exactly on this topic.

We wonder how much of this has to do with the recent craft-painting fiasco between origami artists and painter Sarah Morris. Welcome to the party, crafters.

Good news regarding the disturbing allegations of Urban Outfitters infringing a designer’s copyright. According to NBC Chicago, Urban Outfitters has been shamed into removing jewelry from its website and line.

According to Tumblr’s fashion director Richard Tong, Urban Outfitters began the process of reaching out to [designer, Stevie] Koerner on Thursday to remove the jewelry line from its site and it was gone by Friday morning.

Of interest of course is whether or not one can copyright pendants in the shape of the fifty US states. They do have a heart-shaped puncture through them, indicating the capital of the state, so this may help. Regardless, this incident serves as a gentle reminder to the free-culture party that theft of copyrighted works — for commercial or non-commercial reasons — cuts both ways. Kudos to Koerner!

What do you think?

Thanks to our good friend and former student, Amanda Sitzer, for sending this story along.

Here’s a real interesting (and brief) interview on Typotheque regarding typefaces, copyright, and licensing. The interview is between Jürg Lehni and Erik Spiekermann. Thanks to our good friend Luis Nieto Dickens for sending this along!

The archrivals are set to present opening statements Tuesday involving Mattel’s copyright infringement allegations, along with MGA’s counterclaim of unfair business practices and Mattel’s accusation of theft of trade secrets by its competitor. …”This is going to be a knockdown, drag-out fight, and it’s going to go on for months,” [Jack] Lerner, [professor at USC Gould School of Law,] said. “The jury is going to be given a massive amount of questions to decide, each one of which could cost MGA. And it’s higher stakes for MGA because Mattel is so much bigger of a company.”

Via NPR News. In case you haven’t been following this fascinating case (or need a refresher), click here for background info.