A three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld DC Comics’ copyright interest in the Batmobile in its infringement case against a replica maker.  Writing for the panel, Circuit Judge Sandra S. Ikuta brought in a quote from Batman himself.  “As Batman so sagely told Robin, ‘In our well-ordered society, protection of private property is essential.’  Batman:  The Penguin Goes Straight, (Greenway Productions television broadcast March 23, 1966),” she wrote. “Here, we conclude that the Batmobile character is the property of DC, and Towle infringed upon DC’s property rights when he produced unauthorized derivative works of the Batmobile as it appeared in the 1966 television show and the 1989 motion picture.  Accordingly, we affirm the district court.”

Ikuta stated that while various elements of the vehicle design have changed, there are key characteristics which remain consistent and recognizable, including bat-like external figures, futuristic weaponry and technology “years ahead of anything else on wheels.”  The judge went on to cite the case of the copyrighted vehicle “Eleanor” in Gone in 60 Seconds, which was ruled a copyrighted character in 2008. She also compared the Batmobile to Godzilla and James Bond as recognizable based on “especially distinctive” and “unique elements of expression” in its depiction.

In 2011, DC sued Mark Towle’s Gotham Garage for producing replica Batmobiles based on iterations in the 1966 television series and the 1989 motion picture.  A federal district judge ruled that the Batmobile can be protected by copyright law in 2012 and issued summary judgment in 2013 despite Towle’s attempts to derail the case (see “Batmobile Litigation Proceeds”). 

Towle has several options for appeal, including asking the judges to review their ruling, asking the full panel of appeals court judges to review the ruling, and appealing to the Supreme Court.  DC’s ability to defend its intellectual property rights in inanimate objects is important to its licensing strategy.  The next iteration of the Batmobile, for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (see “Close-up Pics of 'Batman v. Superman' Batmobile”), will undoubtedly generate a new round of licensing revenues based on the vehicle.