In the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale, the opening song from Chris Cornell told us "You Know My Name," in reference to the fact that James Bond is perhaps the most famous fictional name in history. But does Bond have a legal right to his own name?
A bizarre copyright dispute suggests that the name "James Bond" isn't as protected as you might think. And this little legal drama is a good reminder that James Bond's name was stolen from a real James Bond, to begin with.
In UK and European Union law, there's a strange legal loophole, in which copyright holders are required to vigorously use a copyrighted term, or risk losing the copyright altogether. And, now, Austrian businessman Josef Kleindienst is attempting to wrangle the name "James Bond" legally and use it for some kind of $5 billion dollar luxury resort off the coast of Dubai.
"He is challenging a number of UK and European Union trademark registrations for James Bond. The basis of the European Union filings is that James Bond has not been used for the goods and services it protects, and that is likely to be the same basis of the filings in the UK.” intellectual property lawyer Mark Caddle told the Guardian.
Is Kleindienst a kind of real-life Bond villain, trying to exploit the secret agent's name for his own benefit? Maybe, maybe not. But the name "James Bond" was, originally stolen by Bond creator Ian Fleming, from a real-life author named James Bond. When trying to come up with a name for his protagonist for the 1953 novel Casino Royale, Fleming wanted a last name that was simple, and perhaps, a little bit boring. After trying out the name "James Secretan," Fleming later saw a copy of the nonfiction book Birds of the West Indies. An avid naturalist and birder himself, the fact that Fleming owned this book was not strange. What was odd is that the author of this book was an ornithologist named James Bond.
The real James Bond and Ian Fleming met only once, in 1964, well after the Bond novels had become a global sensation, and after the first two films had been released in theaters.
James Bond is also a relatively common name. So much so, that there's a funny and heartfelt documentary called The Other Fellow (2022) which follows the lives of various men named "James Bond" in real life.
So, while Kleindienst might be able to win some kind of strange legal battle against the fictional Bond, the real-world James Bonds will persist, no matter what.
Related: Next James Bond Movie Rumored To Bring Back the Franchise's Secret Weapon
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/diWj2f0
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