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Here’s a question: who owns James Bond? The in-universe answer is ‘The British Government,’ of course, but even as Amazon MGM Studios prepares to relaunch cinema’s greatest super spy — with a shortlist of potential directors for the next movie already leaking out, which we’ll get to momentarily — the question of whether or not the trademark to the character’s very name might have lapsed into public domain in his home country has suddenly become a very real one.

The Guardian reports that Josef Kleindienst, described as “a Dubai-based property developer,” has filed legal papers in both the United Kingdom and European Union challenging nine trademarks surrounding James Bond — including his name, the 007 designation, and the phrase ‘Bond, James Bond.’ He’s able to do so due to UK and EU law that allows trademarks to be challenged after five years of “non-use,” although the last James Bond movie, No Time to Die, was released in 2021, only four years ago. However, with no future Bond movie on a release schedule as of yet, it seems guaranteed that more than five years will elapse between movies, and therefore, use of the trademarks in question.

(No, the new game apparently doesn't count.)

Not coincidentally, it emerges that Kleindienst has submitted for his own trademark for James Bond in the European Union.

Despite this — or, perhaps, because of it — work proceeds apace on Amazon MGM’s side to get the next Bond movie up and running. Although no announcement has been made over the identity of the actor who’ll inherit the role from Daniel Craig, Puck has a shortlist of the directors reportedly talking to new producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman to take on the next movie, and it’s a fascinatingly mixed bag.

Reportedly, Conclave’s Edward Berger has made a pitch for the position, while Dune director Denis Villeneuve is also in the running — as are Jonathan Nolan (Westworld, Fallout), Edgar Wright (Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim, and the upcoming Running Man reboot), and most interesting of all, Paul King, the man who brought Paddington and Wonka to our screens.

It’s a heady mix of possibilities, and given the rights future Bond, the potential is certainly there for a splash reboot of the franchise when the time is right. Assuming Amazon hasn’t lost the trademark of the character by that point, of course…

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