A federal district judge has ruled that the Batmobile can be protected by copyright law, according to Hollywood Reporter.  The judge ruled in favor of DC in a lawsuit against Gotham Garage, a company that was producing Batmobile (1966 & 1989) replicas.  The defense was that copyright cannot be extended to useful articles, but the judge ruled that there were elements, “nonfunctional, artistic elements of an automobile design that can be physically or conceptually separated from the automobile.” 

Such protection is, of course, very important to DC, whose licensing revenue depends on being able to protect and license every part of its universe (as, for example, in this 2006 deal to license the Batmobile, see “Mattel to Produce Classic Batmobile”).