The city of Batman, in southeastern Turkey, is suing Warner Brothers and The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan over the use of the city’s name. The mayor of the city, Huseyin Kalkin, told the Hurriyet Daily News that the suit was suggested by foreign journalists as a way out of the city’s financial troubles.
Although the city apparently pre-dates the character, asserting rights at this late stage is a little tardy. The paper quotes the head of the Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights Commission of the Istanbul Bar as noting that the period for objecting to the registration of the Batman trademark is now past, all over the world.