13 November 2008

Holy Litigation. Batman

According to Variety, the mayor of the Turkish city of Batman is suing producer/director Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. for royalties from the film The Dark Knight.

Huseyin Kalkan, the mayor of Batman, has accused "The Dark Knight" producers of using the city's name without permission."There is only one Batman in the world," Kalkan said. "The American producers used the name of our city without informing us."

Needless to say there was no litigation in 1939 when Batman first appeared as a comic, none when the campy tv show started in 1966 and none when the first film version came out in 1989. (Could the litigation be related to the fact that The Dark Knight is about to pass the $1 billion mark at the box office?

The mayor is prepping a series of charges against Nolan and Warner Bros., which owns the right to the Batman character, including placing the blame for a number of unsolved murders and a high female suicide rate on the psychological impact that the film's success has had on the city's inhabitants. The mayor is working on gathering evidence he claims will show that the city of Batman predates the 1939 debut of Batman in DC Comics.(!!!)

"We are only aware of this claim via press reports and have not seen any actual legal action," according to a Warner Bros statement...


I have no idea if this is a spoof or not but I do love a bit of frivolous litigation!

10 comments:

Sean Jeating said...

When even one of the most honourable and trustworthy newspapers on this planet, and thus in this galaxy and all those galaxies still to discover - i.e. Hurriyet - would sacrifice space for the Dark Mayor's accusations, now, then it must be true, Jams, hm?

Ceterum censeo it's time that the Turks get what they need: Atapluckism.

billie said...

i heard of this last night. sigh. i want to believe that it's a hoax but i know it isn't.

James Higham said...

I really believe that lawyers should be removed from the equation and there should be some sort of arbiter appointed.

jams o donnell said...

Under the wise guidance of Attapluck, Turkey would be heaven on earth Sean!

It really ought to be shouldn't it Betmo

That holds for so many situations James

roman said...

From a purely legal standpoint, this suit would be a real "turkey"
in the annals of jurisprudence.

Ardent said...

You have got to be kidding. What a cheap attempt to extract money.

beakerkin said...

I suppose there is some section in South London named Hulk. Such a lawsuit would keep Red Ken busy for ages.

jams o donnell said...

It;s all pretty stupid eh Ardent?

Ken's out so it will have to be Boris Johnson trying such litigation now, Beakerin

beakerkin said...

I am aware that Ken is out, but he needs something to keep himself busy
and out of trouble.

In general Mayors should stick to local issues and leave foreign policy
to those charged with it. Bloomberg
in NY understands that very well.

jams o donnell said...

I think he's happy with his newts and frogs. He's been very quiet since May