Ford Mustang Eleanor From Gone In 60 Seconds Can't Be Copyrighted (caranddriver.com)
- Reference: 0177908801
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/06/03/1449224/ford-mustang-eleanor-from-gone-in-60-seconds-cant-be-copyrighted
- Source link: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a64938535/ford-mustang-eleanor-gone-in-60-seconds-ruling/
> The ruling states that the Mustang doesn't pass tests that would qualify it as a character. In the past, studio aggressively went after builders for any Mustang that even remotely approximated Eleanor, making it a hassle to restomod classic Mustangs.
[1] https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a64938535/ford-mustang-eleanor-gone-in-60-seconds-ruling/
[2] https://slashdot.org/~sinij
Weirdness (Score:2)
So they think they can bolt a body kit on to a stock Mustang and own the likeness of that Mustang?
Can I re-edit Gone in 60 Seconds and claim ownership of that? No? That's odd.
On par for Found-On-Road-Dead (Score:2)
> In the past, studio aggressively went after builders for any Mustang that even remotely approximated Eleanor, making it a hassle to restomod classic Mustangs.
They pulled the same [1]kind of bullshit in the past [justia.com] for any website that mentioned "Jaguar" - even websites that was exclusively about the animal, an nothing automotive.
[1] https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp2/177/635/2571220/
Herbie the Love Bug? (Score:1)
...Is Herbie copyrightable as a character?
Re: Herbie the Love Bug? (Score:1)
That's a tough question! I think Herbie is a character.
Re: (Score:2)
The Towle test prongs: "The character must generally have physical as well as conceptual qualities. The character must be sufficiently delineated to be recognizable as the same character whenever it appears. It must display consistent, identifiable character traits and attributes, although the character need not have a consistent appearance. The character must be especially distinctive and contain some unique elements of expression. It cannot be a stock character like a magician in standard mag
Re: (Score:2)
The Towle test is: 1) The character must generally have physical as well as conceptual qualities. 2) The character must be sufficiently delineated to be recognizable as the same character whenever it appears. It must display consistent, identifiable character traits and attributes, although the character need not have a consistent appearance. 3) The character must be especially distinctive and contain some unique elements of expression. It cannot be a stock character like a magician in standard magician ga
Easy workaround (Score:2)
Did it start and run more than twice in a row? Well then, it's not an Eleanor clone.
Some background would be helpful (Score:3)
There were a series of 4 movies Gone in 60 Seconds (1974), The Junkman (1982), Deadline Auto Theft (1983), and the remake of Gone in 60 Seconds (2000). Each of these films featured various Ford Mustangs named "Eleanor" with the last one using a GT-500 Ford Mustang from Shelby Group. Denice Halicki owns the copyrights from the first 3 and licensing rights for the remake. After the remake, the Shelby Group licensed a custom car shop to produce “GT500E” Mustangs based on the remake's "Eleanor". Halicki sued Shelby for copyright infringement but the two parties settled in 2009. After the settlement, the Shelby Group then licensed another company Classic Recreations to make “GT-500CR” Mustangs. Halicki sued again for copyright infringement and this ruling says she cannot copyright the car as a character.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't get the "as a character" aspect. Most things we are familiar with being copyrighted are not characters - songs, books, paintings, also movies, e.g. "Gone in 60 Seconds" as a whole. So why would is a car design not copyrightable even if it's not a "character"?