DC Comics have protested a copyright claim at the European Union’s trademark office (OHIM), saying Spanish football team Valencia CF is infringing on their Batman copyright with their team logo. The objection was made when Valencia CF tried to copyright the most recent redesign of their team logo, which is very similar to the logos they’ve been using a very long time. How long is what makes this story particularly amusing.
Here’s a timeline of Valencia CF’s bat-themed logos. See if you notice anything…
The first logo, as you can see, is from 1919, the year the football club was founded. Batman made his first appearance 20 years later, in May of 1939 in Detective Comics #27.
But the legal objection gets even funnier from there. The bat motif has been used by the city of Valencia, Spain, on their coat of arms since 1503.
And the bat motif is just a wee bit popular around the city of Valencia.
OHIM hasn’t made their ruling yet, but we suspect they’ll figure out DC Comics wasn’t aware of how long the symbol’s been used in Valencia and respond with the appropriate amount of sarcasm.
Via Plaza Deportiva, Bleeding Cool, Dasoaz, Richard Alexander Caraballo, and Photocapy
