Mayor of Turkish City 'Batman' Is Suing

by xtine Thu Nov 13, 2008 9:42 am

Batman has battled quite a few foes over the years, including The Joker, The Riddler, Two Face and The Penguin.

But now, the Caped Crusader could have a new enemy, the city of Batman.

The mayor of the real city of Batman — an oil-producing city in southeast Turkey — is reportedly suing “Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros., seeking royalties from this summer’s box-office blockbuster, according to Variety.

In his lawsuit, Huseyin Kalkan, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party mayor of Batman, is accusing Nolan and the studio 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.”

According to Variety, Kalkan is compiling a series of charges against the director and Warner Bros., which owns the right to the Batman character.

Among the charges are a claim that the use of the Batman name is to blame for several unsolved murders and a high female suicide rate, based on the psychological impact that the film’s success has had on the city’s inhabitants, Variety reported.

Kalkan claims he has evidence, which will show the city of Batman was founded before the 1939 debut of Bob Kane’s DC Comics superhero by the same name.

When contacted by Variety, a spokesperson for Warner Bros. said they have not been served with any lawsuit yet by Kalkan.

“We are only aware of this claim via press reports and have not seen any actual legal action,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

To date, “The Dark Knight,” starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, has grossed over $994 million worldwide.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27669362/

:huh:

by JaysonAych Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:18 am

Unless the city is actually named for a man who dresses like a bat and fights crime and not some Turkish name that means something completely different, I have a feeling the judge is going to tell them to go suck a bag of dicks.