No wait...
I'm Batman...
Batman sues Batman over Batman
The mayor of Batman, Turkey, is suing Warner Bros. and The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan for using the Cape Crusader's name without the city's permission. Variety reports Huseyin Kalkan, mayor of the predominantly Kurdish town located in the Batman province of Turkey on the Batman River, is preparing to file a …
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Wednesday 12th November 2008 23:54 GMT Mike Moyle
Too little, too late...
As Hoover, Kleenex, and others found out, if you haven't defended your trademark in the past seventy years, it's too late to start now.
OTOH, I wouldn't be surprised if Warners, in a gesture of international chumship doesn't offer them a community recreation center or something as a thank you for keeping their property in the news and potentially boosting DVD sales -- what with the holidays coming up, and all!
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Wednesday 12th November 2008 23:54 GMT Anonymous Coward
batman?
so batman is suing batman for using the name batman? but was batman the original name of batman or is batman just the english translation of batman and is it just a coincidence that batman sounds like batman? Also the people of batman claim there is only one batman...then how the fuck do they explain val kilmer? or keaton, bale or clooney? answer me that morons!
Where the founding fathers of batman a bat and a man? did they copulate? i think we should be told.
Oh, and WB here is some free legal advice (which im not remotely qualified to give!), tell those fucktards in batman wher they can shove their lawsuit over the name of batman. Also send them Val kilmers head in a box, that should pacify them.
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Wednesday 12th November 2008 23:54 GMT James O'Brien
@TJ
Umm yes it did exist before that...early 1939 IIRC
On a side note the real Clark Kent proved he couldnt stop bullets (that was kinda messy) and has since issued suit against DC for making him grow up without friends or a woman and making him believe he could do that. He is suing for medical pain and suffering as well as negligence. Looking for <dr evil voice> 1 BILLION DOLLARS </dr evil voice>
Oh I will enjoy following this one.
/mines the one with the cowl with long cap attached
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:33 GMT G
Melbourne, Australia
They didn't teach us much in school about our history but I'm fairly certain that a chap called John Batman found or founded Melbourne. At one stage the name Batmania was considered. Why it never got chosen I don't know.
Oh and there's a railway station called Batman too. I was very disappointed as a child to find out it was just a station. I'd imagined all kinds of subterranial things!
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:36 GMT Mike
Hmmm
Well according the Wiki fountain of Truth, "Batman" is a shortened form of "Bati Raman", the name of a mountain range surrounding said province/town. In Kurdish it is known as Elih or Iluh, so Batman is clearly not the native name for the place.
I think if he wanted to sue, as stated in the article, it should have surfaced when "The Bat Man" became Batman in the corny 60s series, not now. This is a blatant act of desperate cashing in and trying to get free publicity for the area.
The people of Gotham, Nottinghamshire have much to learn.
Now jog on, Turkish straw-grabbers
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:36 GMT Anonymous Coward
Turkish meaning
you can check the meaning of "batman" here: http://www.seslisozluk.com/?word=batman
I'm a turk, and as far as I know, Batman is founded at 1950's as a province, before that, it was a village (or smthg like that). How it was developed that fast is related to petroleum veins found.
Fortunately, US did not try to "bring democracy" to Batman, yet. :P
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:36 GMT MacroRodent
Justice
Wasn't WB the production company that harassed a little girl for running a Harry Potter fan site? They richly deserve all IP related legal trouble they get, although I'm afraid this won't fly very far in any sane court. Trademark law allows similar names for totally different things, like a small town and a movie superhero.
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:36 GMT richard tanswell
Time for change
If the courts uphold the decision and force WB to change the name, I think that we may end up with a whole new batch of films....
Battyman Begins - this film depicts Battyman's early years and how he grew to like Dick......Grayson
Battyman and Robin (title pending claim from red breasted bird) - Battyman's flick with his sidekick. Also know as when Bruce met Dick
Battyman - The Dark Night - Battyman descends on Soho discovery some very strange, dark alleyways.....His main arch-rival in this film is "The Poker"....played by Brokeback Mountain star Heath Ledger!
Mine's the one with the the Batbelt round the waist!
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:36 GMT Havin_it
They need to join forces with
...the Lesbians (citizens of Lesbos, that is) and launch a collective legal offensive against the 20th Century and all its various crimes against language. Perhaps some original Angry Pirates will also 'come aboard'; the acts committed in *their* name in recent years are even more horrific...
And then you can immortalise the epic struggle in Playmobil. Go!
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:36 GMT Loki
Turkish pipes
Holy Turkish pipe batman! Thats some good shit theyve been smoking!
Think this is easy to get thrown out though. The Turkish alphabet is slightly different from the latin one used in the west and also has different sounds.
Therefore according to wikipedia (may i be damned for eternity for citing wikipedia!) Batman would sound like: Butmun. Also not having the exact same alphabet you can argue that it is not the same word, otherwise if there was a town in Russia called Батман the same case could be argued.
What next? Sheffield in the UK suing Sheffield in the USA for having the same name?
BTW: IANAL, IANA Turk, IAN Batman
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:36 GMT Markie Dussard
As quick as a flash ...
So, after nearly 70 years of the comic, 40 years after at least one TV series (I'm not sure if there weren't earlier efforts), after at least 7 cinematic releases (not counting the Saturday morning serials) the town of Batman suddenly feels badly used? Just checked and I'm afraid my heart is not bleeding for them.
I'd tell them to stick their fucking lawsuit where the sun doesn't shine - except I'd probably need a license from a small village in Austria to do that. And Terry Pratchett.
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:37 GMT drunk.smile
@Melbourne Claim
I do hope that people make up this shite on wikipedia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(mass)
'A batman... It is equivalent to 1000 pood'
The pood article then contains the glorious quote:
'An old Russian proverb reads, "You never know a man until you have eaten a pood of salt with him." '
I'm going back to my SQL it's safer.
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:37 GMT Fab De Marco
Madness??? THIS.... IS..... SPARTA!!!!!! No wait.. It's Gotham City
Absolute madness! And not the Baggy Trousers kind! If they want to claim royalties don't they have to prove that the film was made successful thanks to the city existing before the film. Or that they are in any way responsible for the revenue generated by the hit films and comic Books and merchandise, Cartoons. If they are serious about it then they will be laying claim to a chunk of everything made out of the batman name since 1939... which is a lot!
Can a city be a copyright anyway? If so Why doesn't New York ask for some cash everytime it is mentioned in a Film, TV series or the News????!!?!?!?
In fact el reg... don't you now owe them some cash for mentioning them.
It will all come to nothing
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:39 GMT Neoc
Fine them for stupidity.
Idiots. Trademark infringements do not occur over disparate industries. Now, if Warner Brothers and DC had a super-hero who operated in the *town* of Batman, the Turks might have a point.
But all that aside, the fact that they did nothing for 70-odd years means they've already lost the fight.
Legal blunder-moves like that should be discouraged by severely fining the idiots who perpetrate them.
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:39 GMT Allan Dyer
Product categories...
Aren't trademarks specific to product categories? The city would only have a claim if Warner Bros. was taking advantage of confusion caused by the similarity?
"Oh no! It's the Joker! Quick, call Batman"
"Umm, Batman, a valet to a senior military officer?"
"No, no, not A Batman, THE Batman!"
"What, the city in Turkey? Anyone in particular? The mayor, a travel agent?"
"It's too late, the Joker has already deployed his fiendish weapon for causing comic confusion!"
Mine's the one with the rejected script in the pocket...
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:39 GMT Martin
Not that I'm cynical or anything, but...
It's obvious that the town is going to lose, unless WB etc. decide to make a gesture.
HOWEVER - I wonder what would happen if someone named a new town after an 'existing'
super-hero? ...... Mega law suit from the IP owners without mercy methinks.
Paris, because I'd like to see her other side too.
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Thursday 13th November 2008 11:39 GMT Andy Worth
And in other news......
.....the town of Moron, Cuba sues the mayor of Batman for being a moron and thus breaking their trademark on the word.
I wasn't aware that you could trademark a town/city name, otherwise Melbourne, AUS is in trouble given that Melbourne, UK has been around for at least 500 years longer.
I think Iam hit the nail on the head. Although telling people that you have a high murder rate and a high rate of female suicides is probably not the best way to draw in tourists. Until I read that I was almost considering going there, just to dress up in a cape and wind up the locals.
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Thursday 13th November 2008 13:19 GMT steogede
Who's next?
Perhaps Turkey will decide to sue Bernard Matthew?
Anyway, names surely can't be copyrighted. Trademarked maybe, but unless the province of Batman had the forethought to trademark the name of their town, surely the only rights they would have would be prior usage, so they could continue to call themselves Batman.
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Friday 14th November 2008 13:34 GMT Andy
Breaking news
Bernard Matthews is suing the country Turkey for using the name Turkey on behalf of all the Turkeys (feathered type) in the world based on the premise that Turkeys (feathered type) were there first. Any damages given will be used to save Turkeys from the dinner table this Christmas.If he fails then he says he'll look like a bit of a Turkey. Which bit of a Turkey and whether he was refering to Turkey the country or Turkeys of the feathered variety is unclear.
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Friday 14th November 2008 15:55 GMT Mark
@Neoc
"Trademark infringements do not occur over disparate industries."
No, not really.
Free database product called firebird. Free web browser called firebird, renamed because the DB wanted dibs on the name and is now Firefox.
A geological survey company named after the latin (?) name for ground: Gentium. Sued by Intel for having a name too close to "Pentium".
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Thursday 20th November 2008 00:25 GMT Anonymous Coward
prediction?
The way courts/lawsuits go these days, Turkey better watch out.
Because chances are they'll go to court and Turkey will end up having infringed on the Batman Francises copyright (simply because the Batman character is more famous) and Turkey will have to change the name of the little town that they're trying so desperately to point out to us.
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
