Jerusalem store settles lawsuits over Spider-Man yarmulkes

A Jerusalem retailer has reached a settlement with Marvel and Warner Bros. regarding the sale of unlicensed yarmulkes featuring Spider-Man and Superman.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that Kippa Man owner Avi Binyamin agreed to pay each company $17.000 for infringing on their trademarks; they’d originally sought $27,000 in damages.

Binyamin told The Jerusalem Post in September that he doesn’t produce the yarmulkes, but merely sells them like many other shops in the area. “They make them in China, I just bring them,” he said. “There are 20 stores on this street, they all sell the same thing,” Indeed, the newspaper reported that nearly every store on Ben-Yehuda Street displayed yarmulkes outside.

However, Kippa Man is the most successful and best known outside of Israel.

The Times of Israel then characterized the lawsuit as “the first move by Marvel against what it perceives as widespread copyright infringement in Israel, where products featuring its copyrighted superheros are commonly sold.” Lawyers for Marvel and Warner Bros. Told the Israeli newspaper Maariv that the companies will pursue legal action against other small stores that violate their trademarks.