The legal saga surrounding "Eleanor", the Ford Mustang from "Gone in 60 Seconds", has been rumbling on for over 20 years.
"Eleanor" featured in four movies, with the latest being the "Gone in 60 Seconds" reboot released in 2000, starring Nicholas Cage. The name relates to a collection of Ford Mustangs which were first seen in the original film in 1974.
Over the years, there have been a number of lawsuits associated with "Eleanor", and in particular, an ongoing battle between Denice Halicki (widow of H. B. Halicki, the writer, director, producer and star of the original 1974 movie) and Carroll Shelby Licensing Inc (linked, of course, to the legendary car racer and designer, Carroll Shelby, who was involved with the development of the Ford Mustang).
The latest decision issued by the US Court of Appeals in California dismissed Denice Halicki's claims against Carroll Shelby Licensing for copyright infringement on the grounds that the "Eleanor" vehicle is simply not entitled to copyright protection.
Specifically, the Court held that "Eleanor" is not a copyrightable character (or even a character) as the car does not have "conceptual qualities, consistent traits, and [is] not especially distinctive". The Court held that "nothing distinguishes Eleanor from any number of sports cars appearing in car-centric action films".
The Court applied the reasoning from the DC Comics v Mark Towle case, which relates to the Batmobile. In that 2015 decision, the US Court of Appeals in California held that the Batmobile is entitled to copyright protection on the basis that it is an "automotive character" and a "sufficiently distinctive element" of the Batman comic books, movies and television series. Interestingly, the Towle decision refers back to an earlier chapter of the "Eleanor" dispute in which it was held (in a 2008 decision) that an automotive character can enjoy copyright protection, but only those characters that are "especially distinctive". This reasoning also appears in the 2025 decision and Eleanor has ultimately fallen at this hurdle.
This isn't to say that Denice Halicki has never been able to assert any rights in relation to "Eleanor". For example, in 2020, she successfully took action against a YouTube video creator who had been building a Ford Mustang Shelby replica that he named "Eleanor". Ultimately, the car was relinquished to Halicki and all associated YouTube videos were taken down.
Halicki owns US trademark registrations for the name ELEANOR in relation to vehicles and their parts (as well as toy cars and "motion picture films featuring action-adventure, and drama") so it would certainly be difficult to commercialise the name; however, after this latest ruling, it appears that it may become more difficult for Halicki to assert rights in relation to the "Eleanor" vehicles themselves, certainly from a copyright angle.
[The] Appellants' argument stalls at the starting line: we hold that Eleanor is not a character, much less a copyrightable one - UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
