The Supreme Court is staying out of a copyright dispute involving a California man who produced replicas of the Batmobile for car-collecting fans of the caped crusader.
The justices on Monday let stand a lower court ruling that said the Batmobile’s bat-like appearance and high-tech gadgets make it a character that can’t be duplicated without permission from DC Comics, the copyright holder.
Mark Towle produced replicas of the car as it appeared in the 1966 television show featuring Adam West as Batman and the 1989 movie starring Michael Keaton. He sold them for about $90,000 each.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year sided with DC Comics in finding that the Batmobile is entitled to copyright protection.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
The Court got this one right. People need to realize they don’t have the right to profit off someone else’s creative ideas.
It is about time the Supreme Court makes a rational decision.
While I hate to admit it, the original concept owned by DC Comics should have copyright protection. This would all go away if Mark Towle just got a license (paid DC Comics some money) to keep building the cars he obviously loves.
I’ll sell you a 1972 Pinto for $300. The laughs alone are worth it.
Copyright laws are supposed to protect intellectual property which is a fine idea. However the protection is for a limited amount of time pursuant to Federal statutes. Walt Disney and others have circumvented these laws and have kept these characters from becoming part of the public domain. DC comics have denied Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegle from substantially benefitting fro their creation-Superman and pay their estates a token while it makes billions. It makes one question whether the bat mobile after so many years deserves continuing copyright protection.