Turns out there’s a city in southeastern Turkey by the name of Batman. And its mayor wants royalties. “‘The royalty of the name “Batman” belongs to us … There is only one Batman in the world. The American producers used the name of our city without informing us,’ [Mayor Hüseyin] Kalkan told to the Dogan news agency”. Per a local newspaper, one problem for expatriate Batmanites who operate shops and restaurants in countries like Germany is that using their hometown in business names might invite unfavorable attention from Hollywood IP lawyers. (Safak Timur, Hurriyet, Nov. 7; io9; Defamer). Image: Bryce Edwards, Flickr via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0. More: WOW Report, Brian Doherty (“disturbingly Borat-esque”).

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