German court denies copyright protection for Miss Moneypenny

Miss Moneypenny might be as much of a James Bond movie fixture as spy gadgets and vodka martinis, but a German court has ruled the fictional MI6 secretary does not warrant copyright protection.

In a decision released Thursday, Germany's highest civil court rejected a lawsuit challenging the use of the advertising tagline "My Moneypenny" by a company that offers secretarial and bookkeeping services.

The hard-working secretary to British spy chief M plays a small recurring role in almost all Bond films, where she maintains a flirtatious relationship with the super spy.

But despite being a household name to Bond fans, the Federal Court of Justice ruled that she has "neither a specific visual appearance nor particular character traits to give the fictional character... sufficiently individualised character with a distinctive personality".

That means that Miss Moneypenny does not meet the requirements to be considered a protected "working title" under German trademark and copyright law, according to the court.

A US company that previously managed the rights to the films sued the German company for using the name.

Earlier this year, US tech giant Amazon bought distribution rights and artistic control of the "James Bond" franchise in a deal reportedly worth around $1 billion.

Presiding judge Thomas Koch explained that film characters need to have a distinctive profile of their own outside the underlying films in order to receive legal protections.

Miss Moneypenny appeared in all but two of the 25 Bond movies released since 1962 and has been played by a number of actresses, from Lois Maxwell to Naomie Harris.

She was left out of the 2006 film "Casino Royale" and 2008 film "Quantum of Solace," but was reintroduced in the 2012 film "Skyfall", where -- for the very first time -- she was given more of a backstory and a first name, Eve.