Batmobile History

Since 1939, Batman has defended Gotham City from evil villains with the help of his trusty sidekick Robin, his utility belt, and his choice of transportation, the Batmobile (dccomics.com). Beginning in 1941, the Batmobile has been seen with external bat-like features and is ready for battle with furtursitic weapons and technology, The Batmobile over time has evolved and has been seen in various different ways, the only things to remain consistent have been the name and the main characteristics (caselaw.findlaw.com, para. 2). Although the Batmobile is not the main focus of the Batman series it is the main focus of this case. Once upon a time in a town nothing like Gotham, there was a main by the name of Mark Towle, who decided that he was going

What Towle did was taking being a Batman fan to the extreme by manufacturing and selling replicas of the Batmobile as it was featured in the 1966 television series and the 1989 movie. Towle is an honest man and even admitted that they are copies of the designs in both productions (caselaw.findlaw.com, para. 8). In order to help people identify where they have seen these cars before, they were advertised as replicas of the “Batmobile”. Towle even used the domain name batmobilereplicas.com to help market his business (caselaw.findlaw.com, para. 10). What does Towle do with these real life replicas of the Batmobile, you may ask. Well he sells them for the low price of $90,000. For those we might not be able to afford that Towle is also considerate and sells kits that help the Batman fan turn their car into the Batmobile. The issue here is that Towle is doing all this unauthorized; he does not have the right to bring the Batmobile to life (caselaw.findlaw.com, para. 10). The only originality that Towle had given to the replicas is “custom bat insignias, wheel bats, [and a] bat steering wheel” (caselaw.findlaw.com, para.

Towle is an important case because it shows media practitioners owning a copyright and trademark is much more than preventing others from use your creation, it also prevents them from being able to innovate the original with these own ideas. While it does prevent others from using a similar concept, which could make it difficult for the average person to distinguish the similar brands or products from other companies. It also prevents others from innovating their own ideas to the original work. Copyright laws prevent the ability to change or make something better over time, if someone owns all of the rights to it. This case is important to media practitioners because it demonstrates that even though you took someone’s idea and innovated it with your own thoughts and creativity, you could still be sued over copyright infringement, if the two show substantial