Car master netflix12/15/2023 ![]() The judge also went into the particulars of the Batmobile to single out what’s conceptually separable such as the “Batmobile’s entire frame, consisting of the rear exaggerated, sculpted bat-fin and the mandibular front,” which he says “can stand on its own without the underlying vehicle.” “Additionally, Defendant’s argument that Batman is merely a car wholly fails to capture the creativity and fantastical elements that stand apart from the fact that the Batmobile also happens to look like a car.” “Thus, the Batmobile’s usefulness is a construct,” he wrote. He says that the “so-called functional elements” - such as fictional torpedo launchers and an anti-fire system - are only functional in that they help Batman fight crime. The judge then explains why he is affording the Batmobile the upmost respect and why the car featured in comic books, television series and films is more than just functional. A derivative work can still infringe the underlying copyrighted work even if the derivative work is not independently entitled to copyright protection.” The fact that the unauthorized Batmoble replicas that Defendant manufactured - which are derivative works - may be ‘useful articles’ is irrelevant. Lew continues, “Defendant did not copy the design of a mere car he copied the Batmobile character. “Its existence in three-dimensional form is the consequence of the Batmobile’s portrayal in the 1989 live-motion film and 1966 television series.” “The Batmobile is a character and exists in both two- and three-dimensional forms,” Lew wrote. On Thursday, the judge delivered his answer. “Ford, Toyota, Ferrari and Honda would start publishing comic books so that they could protect what, up until now, was unprotectable.” “The implications of a ruling upholding this standard are easy to imagine,” wrote Zerner. The problem, argued Zerner, was that Warner subsidiary DC was claiming that pretty much the entire body of the Batmobile - including the front grill, the fenders, the wheels, the fins, the cockpit and the exhaust pipe - fell under such protection. copyright law doesn’t allow “useful articles” to be copyrighted, but it does allow elements that are conceptually separable from the utilitarian aspects to gain protection. The defendant, represented by attorney Larry Zerner, argued that a judge should be careful about deeming automobiles as copyrightable. In 1989, when it came time to make a film based on the Batman franchise, production designer Anton Furst made his own model and assigned rights to the studio. In the 1960s, George Barris built one for the 1960s ABC series Batman, basing his designs on a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept model. Since then, the car has undergone many transformations. The Batmobile first appeared in comic books in 1941, two years after Batman was introduced. District Court Judge Ronald Lew writes that “it is clear that the Batmobile is a copyrighted character.” ![]() ![]() In an extraordinary 54-page ruling Thursday, U.S. ![]()
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