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Court Rules Batmobile Is Entitled To Copyright Protection
schwit1 writes: The Batmobile's bat-like appearance and other distinct attributes, including its high-tech weaponry, make it a character that can't be replicated without permission from DC Comics, the copyright holder, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said. "As Batman so sagely told Robin, 'In our well-ordered society, protection of private property is essential,' " states the opinion. "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."
It goes without saying that stuff like this should be copyrighted because it's essentially "fanart" that is being sold. You just can't do that.
Though this makes me wonder about Time Machine-modified Delorean's and Ecto-1's
The judge seems to not see that there is a difference between THE Batmobile and A Batmobile.
THE Batmobile, build by George Barris for the 1960's TV show (from the Ford Futura concept car) sold at the 2013 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction for $4.3 million.
A Batmobile replica seems to go for anything up to $150K, depending on how good it is.
People know what the real things are and the difference in what they are worth to them are, as one can see, is remarkably different. Also, trying to pass off a replica as the real thing is fraud, a real crime.
Without IP, my car might be more or less advanced, that's all. On one hand there would be less incentive to research new features, on the other, the manufacturer could incorporate any they want without paying license fees. And as new manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing, drive down the cost of making one-off prototypes, research will become cheaper and eventually reach the point where hobbyists can engage in it. At that point IP will unquestionably be a hindrance, if it isn't already.
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
Since 1998. It's in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, oddly enough.
There are five titles in the act. Everyone who reads slashdot knows of the 'safe harbor' provisions and the anti-circumvention provisions - titles II and I respectively. The less-well-known title V extends copyright protection to cover the design of boat hulls.