Comments on: Kirby heirs go after rights to characters http://blog.newsok.com/nerdage/2009/09/21/kirby-heirs-go-after-rights-to-characters/ Comic book, graphic novel and movie news that impacts nerd culture Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:31:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: nerdblog http://blog.newsok.com/nerdage/2009/09/21/kirby-heirs-go-after-rights-to-characters/comment-page-1/#comment-28196 nerdblog Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:17:17 +0000 http://blog.newsok.com/nerdage/?p=5301#comment-28196 Thanks for the insightful comment! Very good information. Thanks for the insightful comment! Very good information.

]]> By: Christine Valada http://blog.newsok.com/nerdage/2009/09/21/kirby-heirs-go-after-rights-to-characters/comment-page-1/#comment-28195 Christine Valada Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:08:39 +0000 http://blog.newsok.com/nerdage/?p=5301#comment-28195 You are absolutely right about the potential lawsuits down the line. My article about all of this appeared in L.A. Lawyer in 1996, which members of both the Siegel and Shuster family saw. I am not sure that the courts have read the law correctly, but at least they've recognized there is a right on behalf of those two creators to go for reversion rights. There would be a difference between the way the law treated characters created before 1978 (Len Wein's characters in the X-men and elsewhere would fall into that) and those post 1977, which would encompass a lot of Chris Claremont's work. Then there's the really big issue no one has taken on: are comic books actually subject to the work for hire provisions of the copyright act when freelance work is considered? A strict reading of the law says absolutely not. A comic book or a graphic novel is really a joint work, but it does not fall within the listed types of work which can be work made for hire when a freelancer is involved. Joe Simon went down this road and I believe he got a settlement out of Marvel for Captain America. Dave Cockrum got some money out of Marvel for Nightcrawler before he died. How anyone else will fare is a crap-shoot. You are absolutely right about the potential lawsuits down the line. My article about all of this appeared in L.A. Lawyer in 1996, which members of both the Siegel and Shuster family saw. I am not sure that the courts have read the law correctly, but at least they’ve recognized there is a right on behalf of those two creators to go for reversion rights.

There would be a difference between the way the law treated characters created before 1978 (Len Wein’s characters in the X-men and elsewhere would fall into that) and those post 1977, which would encompass a lot of Chris Claremont’s work. Then there’s the really big issue no one has taken on: are comic books actually subject to the work for hire provisions of the copyright act when freelance work is considered? A strict reading of the law says absolutely not. A comic book or a graphic novel is really a joint work, but it does not fall within the listed types of work which can be work made for hire when a freelancer is involved.

Joe Simon went down this road and I believe he got a settlement out of Marvel for Captain America. Dave Cockrum got some money out of Marvel for Nightcrawler before he died. How anyone else will fare is a crap-shoot.

]]>