DC comics win court case over Melbourne gym's 'Superman workout'

DC Comics has won a Federal Court case against a Melbourne gym over the term 'Superman Workout' which the company used to promote its products, allowing the fitness company to register 'superman workout' as a trademark.

The gym Cheqout had had been using the phrase to describe its workout DVDs and video clips, but DC Comics challenged the trademark, saying Cheqout's consumers would think it was associated with the comic book company, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

However, Federal Court judge Annabelle Bennett ruled in favour of DC Comics and prevented the Melbourne gym from using the phrase.

Moving deeper into the case, Justice Bennett looked into the meaning of 'superman' in the Macquarie Dictionary where the word refers to Nietzsche's concept of 'an ideal human being who by virtue of greater spiritual powers rises above the usual notions of good and evil'.

According to the report, the character introduced in the comics goes by the Oxford English Dictionary definition which describes the 'superman' as 'an almost invincible superhero having the power to fly and typically depicted wearing a tight blue suit with a red cape'.

Superman's history was dealt with during the case as philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's "Ubermensch", the original comic strip character from 1938 came to the fore as did the mysterious earlier figure who was actually a villain, the report added.