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'.

The issue discussed by the court was "whether a character in a comic book, television program or motion picture is entitled to copyright protection".

Since the creation of the character it has appeared multiple times in various comic books, television series or motion pictures.

Hence, a lawsuit was filed by DC Comics in the federal district court claiming infringement of their copyright & trademark protection and causing unfair competition arising out of the replicas being sold in the market.

Lastly, as the copying of the character was admitted by Mark, the court did not apply the "substantial similarity" test to determine infringement.

This ruling of the ninth circuit expands the application of copyright law by prescribing requirements for comic-book characters to be protected.