DC Comics v. Mark Towle

DC Comics v. Mark Towle was a copyright case heard in the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit in September 2015.^[1] The case concerned defendant Mark Towle, who built and sold replicas of the Batmobile in his garage named 'Garage Gotham'. DC Comics initially filed a lawsuit, in May 2011, in the federal district court alleging causes of action for copyright infringement, trademark infringement and unfair competition arising out of Mark's manufacture and sale of replicas.^[2] The plaintiffs, DC Comics, claimed the infringement of their copyright as the replicas sold by Mark were similar to the ones that appeared in 1966 television show Batman and the 1989 film Batman. The issue discussed by the court was "whether a character in a comic book, television program or motion picture is entitled to copyright protection". The ninth circuit followed the precedents and came up with a three-part test to determine the protection given to such characters.^[3]

The three-part test to determine the copyright protection for a comic character is as follows:

1. "The character must generally have physical as well as conceptual qualities.
2. The character must be sufficiently delineated to be recognizable as the same character whenever it appears. It must display consistent, identifiable character traits and attributes, although the character need not have a consistent appearance.
3. The character must be especially distinctive and contain some unique elements of expression. It cannot be a stock character like a magician in standard magician garb."^[3]

The court applied this test on Batmobile to conclude that the character is the property of DC Comics and is entitled to copyright protection. The defendant, thus, had infringed upon the plaintiff's copyright. While concluding so, the ninth circuit court affirmed the judgement of the federal district court.