September 27, 2025, 6:59 am | Read time: 3 minutes
Miss Moneypenny, known from the James Bond films, is occupying the Federal Court of Justice. The issue is the trademark protection of her name.
Since September 25, 2025, the Federal Court of Justice has been hearing the case concerning the trademark protection of the name “Moneypenny.” The case was initiated by a lawsuit from rights holder Amazon against a franchise company offering secretarial and assistant services under the names “MONEYPENNY” and “MY MONEYPENNY.” Amazon argues that this is an improper exploitation of the character’s high recognition value and demands a comprehensive ban on the use of the name as well as damages.
The Dispute Over Moneypenny
The dispute has been ongoing for two years. In June 2023, the Hamburg Regional Court first dismissed the lawsuit. The judges argued that a so-called work title protection only applies if a character has a distinct individual profile. Well-known examples include characters like Obelix, who is recognized as protectable due to his distinctive appearance, independent merchandising products, and a multitude of comic series.
In the case of Miss Moneypenny, however, the court did not see this individual profile as present. To the public, she is primarily known as the secretary of intelligence chief M. Additionally, the character has been portrayed by different actresses over the decades, making a consistent visual image difficult. For these reasons, the Hamburg Regional Court denied the work title protection, as reported by the law firm wbs.legal.
Amazon’s appeal to the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg was also unsuccessful. In October 2024, the OLG confirmed the reasoning of the lower court. Nevertheless, the rights holder is not giving up: They aim to have the designation “Moneypenny” recognized as an independent work title.
Decision with Signal Effect
The Federal Court of Justice must now determine how much a character must be separated from the original work to be considered an independent work title. Media law expert Christian Solmecke from wbs.legal explains that the key factor is whether the name represents its own quality promise beyond the film series. Amazon is convinced that “Miss Moneypenny” fulfills exactly this.
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The proceedings have a signal effect for dealing with the names of fictional characters. Should the Federal Court of Justice recognize the title protection, the name Moneypenny would be legally protected and could no longer be freely used for business purposes. Thus, the famous assistant to M might face her next assignment—this time not in the intelligence office, but in the trademark register.