The Volokh Conspiracy

The mayor must be an American trained lawyer.

He's suing about our use of "Batman." But calling his country "Turkey" is just dandy?

This makes me think of Borat, somehow.

And also the primarily geographically misdescriptive thing from trademarks class.

Also, based on this,

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.

I'd guess that Jonathan Lee Riches is behind this somehow.

The people of a certain town in Austria must be kicking themselves over this news. Think of all the money they could have extorted from pornographers all over the world in this manner!

Why isn't the mayor suing the estate of Bob Kane or Bill Finger?

Media reports say the mayor got the idea from visiting journalists. Why does that sound utterly plausible?

An easy fix, BTW, would be to stop calling this city Batman and instead use the Kurdish name Êlih. The oil-producing city is, after all, in the SE part of Turkey, where the population is predominantly Kurdish. The mayor himself is pro-Kurdish, so it looks like a win all around!

If the legal threat continues, perhaps a new villain can be found for the Caped Crusader to sort out. Huseyin Kalkan doesn't fit the mold, but as he is a Kurd, perhaps 'Cheesehead' could make his debut in an upcoming film...

There's a Mr Batman in my local cemetery. There's a Bruce Wayne, too. This is true. Not the same guy, after all.

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.

If he investigates some more, he'll probably find out that they were watching the George Clooney movie, not one of the new ones...

Hm, almost like a reverse of the net humor classic Sun Microsystems Sues Island of Java

Peter J Moriarity
There's a Mr Batman in my local cemetery. There's a Bruce Wayne, too. This is true. Not the same guy, after all.

How do you know?

Because they're buried separately (?).

Wow. Melbourne was founded by John Batman, and there's a city park, a train station, a road in Tasmania, and a seat in the federal Parliament that bear his name. I wonder whether Johnny Turk is planning to sue us next.

PS: There's a suburb in Melbourne called Balaclava, where I grew up. It has an Alma Road, an Inkerman Street, two Sebastopol Streets (different post codes, so the post doesn't get lost; I lived on one of them until I was 12), a Malakoff Street, and a Crimea Street. (Also Nightingale, Cardigan, and Raglan Streets.) Wait till the Crimeans get wind of this!

They might have said something back in 1939 when the first comic book came out, or in 1966 with the television series.
However what is interesting is that in English, a batman is an aide-de-camp to a British officer. So in Batman, the real batman is Alfred.

They might have said something back in 1939 when the first comic book came out.

Well, the seal of the city says "1955" on it, so I'd say that DC Comics and Warner Brothers should counter sue for copyright infringement and grab some of those oil revenues!

Isn't it likely that the intended effect is to draw attention to the area itself, potentially increasing tourism and business? I suspect that is the true motive for the suit.

Joshua:

I've actually been to that Austrian town, and have pictures someplace. The best thing about those signs is that in Austria, the town name signs also signify when you're entering an area with different traffic laws, especially a reduced speed limit. Since you need to know when you're leaving such a zone, on the other side of the signs, they have the name of the town -- with a slash through it!

goekstr: That thought had crossed my mind.

I wondered whether the famous level-headedness of Wisconsinites would prevail and hoped, 'Yes'.

I might be wrong, of course...

In that case, I suggest the character of the mayor be named in honor of Miss Muffet.

Considering "Batman" the comic book has been around for decades, I'm pretty sure that laches will dispose of this fairly readily.

But to more esoteric concerns, I don't think there's much any town can do to protect its name from use elsewhere. Let's say Dubai decided to create a new city and name it "New York City." Could Bloomberg then sue Dubai and demand that the name be changed so that people would not be confused between the two cities? I doubt it. What if Oregon decided to name a coastal town "New York" and then designate it as a city? Could Bloomberg sue over that? I don't know, but my guess is no. Now, if either of these new "New York Cities" put out ads saying, "Come to NYC, Dubai" or "Come to NYC, Oregon," and featured a picture of the original New York City skyline, I could see that possibly being actionable as deceptive.

I bet that's why Joaquin Phoenix dropped out of the Hollywood scene. He was afraid of lawsuits coming from Arizona.

I haven't heard much from Chevy Chase lately, either. I thought his career had gone into the doldrums, but I now realize he's laying low, hoping to avoid lawsuits from Maryland.

"Now, if either of these new "New York Cities" put out ads saying, "Come to NYC, Dubai" or "Come to NYC, Oregon," and featured a picture of the original New York City skyline, I could see that possibly being actionable as deceptive."

I'm not sure about that-- what about the New York, New York hotel in Las Vegas?

However what is interesting is that in English, a batman is an aide-de-camp to a British officer. "
In a baseball game the man with the bat , how is called?

In a baseball game the man with the bat , how is called?

"Drug addict."

He should be suing Joel Schumacher for making "Batman Turkey" a phrase describing the worst Hollywood dreck of the '90s.

The simple solution would be for the Dubai city to change its name to New New York City.

Sorry, Futurama already grabbed that name, so Fox could sue Dubai for using their name. I'm not sure about New New New York City though.

at Aleppo and Smyrna, the batman is 17 pounds.

Even with the utility belt and Batarangs?

The simple solution would be for the Dubai city to change its name to New New York City.

Sorry, Futurama already grabbed that name, so Fox could sue Dubai for using their name. I'm not sure about New New New York City though.




How about New New Amsterdam?

So . . . does this mean Batman can change his name to "Constantinople"? I mean, if he wants to.

Dell

Um . . . wow?

Is that for real? How completely strange.

(I'll have to tell my buddy Biff Greenlantern about this. He'll get a good laugh.)