Image via IMDB
A recent court decision has established, once again, that movie cars aren’t fictional characters and so copyright laws don’t apply to them. This is huge victory for enthusiasts who like customizing their rides to look like hero and even villain cars in movies and TV shows.
Where the most famous TV and movie cars are now.
The wheels of justice might turn slow, but at least in this case they’ve helped reach the inevitable conclusion that helps gearheads in the US. The US Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit recently handed down this ruling, dealing a second blow to the woman who’s tried suing anyone making an Eleanor Mustang into oblivion.
You might already be familiar with Denise Halicki, the widow of H.B. Halicki who directed the first Gone In 60 Seconds movie, since she’s been a thorn in the side of Mustang enthusiasts for over two decades.
Halicki got the smackdown in court back in 2022, so she appealed that verdict. Here we are, three years later and the appeals court, using a panel of judges, has come to the same conclusion: she can’t sue anyone for having a Mustang that looks like Eleanor.
While we’ll joke around and say cars are the main characters in movies like the Fast and Furious franchise, the reality is they’re legally not characters. As part of the court ruling states, Eleanor specifically isn’t a movie character because it’s “not especially distinctive” as well as it doesn’t display “consistent traits” and lacks “conceptual qualities.”
As part of the ruling, the panel of judges even said Eleanor doesn’t look all that distinct from Mustangs in other movies. In contrast, they brought up the Batmobile, which in most iterations is quite different looking.
In fact, the ruling says “Eleanor is more akin to a prop than a character.” That’s true and we’ve always thought of movie cars as just that: props. Sure, they’re cooler than pretty much any other proper in films, but at the end of the day that’s how they’re classified.
What this means is Halicki and others will be on shaky legal ground trying to sue anyone for crafting their own version of a movie car. Finally, enthusiasts can just have fun without worrying about getting sued and their vehicle being seized in a ridiculous court case.
Image via IMDB
