Hüseyin Kalkan

Batman sign

Hüseyin Kalkan was mayor of Batman in Southeast Anatolia, Turkey, and a member of the Democratic Society Party. He gained international notoriety November 2008 after he announced plans to sue Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight film, over the allegedly unauthorized use of his city's name.[1][2][3]

In August 2007, British newspaper The Guardian, as an aside in the last of a 25 paragraph story concerning honor suicide in the region, claimed that Kalkan had been awarded damages by DC Comics for using his city's name in their Batman Comic book franchise.[4] However, the 2008 news coverage reporting on the Nolan lawsuit (including The Guardian[5]) made no mention of this claim.[1][2][3][6][7][8][9][10][11] In fact, news sources made a point of noting that Kalkan was not suing D.C. Comics[12][13] nor had he raised concerns about infringement before the Nolan lawsuit.[3][14][15][16][17]

In February 2008 the mayor was sentenced to 10 months in jail for promoting terrorism.[18]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Holy court action! Can 'Dark Knight' beat Turkish mayor?". CNN. November 13, 2008. Retrieved November 13, 2008.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Bailey, Charlotte (November 11, 2008). "Turkish mayor suing Batman director for 'stealing his city's name'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved November 13, 2008.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jaafar, Ali (November 11, 2008). "Mayor of Batman sues WB, Nolan". Variety (magazine). Retrieved November 13, 2008. No one from the town of Batman has explained why it took so many years to take legal action.
  4. ↑ Smith, Helena (August 23, 2007). "When wrong boyfriends or clothes lead daughters to kill themselves". The Guardian. Retrieved November 13, 2008.
  5. ↑ Child, Ben (November 11, 2008). "Batman launches suit against Christopher Nolan". The Guardian. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  6. ↑ "Christopher Nolan being sued by Batman". Access Hollywood. November 11, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  7. ↑ Bing, Stanley (November 13, 2008). "Batman Riddle in Turkey". TheStreet.com. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  8. ↑ "Batman sues Batman". Los Angeles Times. November 12, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  9. ↑ Sherwin, Adam (November 11, 2008). "People: Hermione Norris, Pink, Ridley Scott, Yoko Ono, Beyoncé". London: The Times. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  10. ↑ "'Batman' mayor sues the Dark Knight". Sky News. November 14, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  11. ↑ Doherty, Brian (November 13, 2008). "He's Fought the Penguin, Now He's Got to Take on Turkey". Reason (magazine). Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  12. ↑ Mendelson, Scott (November 12, 2008). "The real story behind that inexplicable Turkey, Batman lawsuit.". Film Threat. Retrieved November 14, 2008. Why not sue DC Comics....?
  13. ↑ "Real life Batman faces super test". Hürriyet. November 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2008. Kalkan is going to sue Christopher Nolan, the director of the latest Batman movie “The Dark Night,” not DC Comics, the creator of the superhero.
  14. ↑ "'Gothan City' sues Batman". Independent Online (South Africa). November 14, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2008. So far it hasn't been explained why the city of Batman hasn't raised concerns before, as the character Batman has been around as a comic since 1939 and had a series of big budget US films with the character named in the title since 1989.
  15. ↑ Akbar, Arifa (November 13, 2008). "Mayor of Batman takes on the might of Gotham City". The Independent. Retrieved November 14, 2008. No one from the town of Batman has explained why it has taken so many years to take legal action.
  16. ↑ Modine, Austin (November 12, 2008). "Batman sues Batman over Batman". The Register. Retrieved November 14, 2008. Of course, one could also speculate the city could have figured this out much sooner with the assistance of Batman, the world's greatest detective.
  17. ↑ Serpe, Gina (November 12, 2008). "Batman's Latest Archenemy: Batman". E! Online. Retrieved November 14, 2008. Which begs the question of where hizzoner has been the past 70 years.
  18. ↑ "Kurdish mayor sentenced to 10 months in Turkey for praising rebel leader". The Associated Press. February 14, 2008. Retrieved November 13, 2008.