Marvel Suing to Keep Rights to ‘Avengers’ Characters From Copyright Termination
Blockbuster lawsuits filed today will decide future ownership of characters including Iron Man and Spider-Man.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
terminate me if old
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Marvel Suing to Keep Rights to ‘Avengers’ Characters From Copyright Termination
- Thread starter Helix
- Start date
terminate me if old
If Marvel somehow loses, it'll be hilarious when Disney gives us Inhumans versions of Iron Man, Spider-Man, etc
Man, the ownership and usage rights of comic book characters is always so complicated for me to follow.
I don't know shit about lawsuits, isn't this more about stuff like this:
If these characters were made as work-for-hire, don't the estates have no real chance of getting them? Is the Ditko estate just fishing for a settlement?
And this isn't just the MCU, this would remove them from all comics, shows, movies, toys, everything, right?
If these characters were made as work-for-hire, don't the estates have no real chance of getting them? Is the Ditko estate just fishing for a settlement?
And this isn't just the MCU, this would remove them from all comics, shows, movies, toys, everything, right?
That's what is really, basically what the Kirby estate did, granted things have getting weird lately because I think that issue was before Disney.I don't know shit about lawsuits, isn't this more about stuff like this:
If these characters were made as work-for-hire, don't the estates have no real chance of getting them? Is the Ditko estate just fishing for a settlement?
And this isn't just the MCU, this would remove them from all comics, shows, movies, toys, everything, right?
True enough, rather than reverting to public domain it's from the family of the original creator they are trying to keep these rights from. Still a shitty move.
im confused
In what circumstance would the creation of these characters not be deemed works made for hire?
It happened to DC, but the circumstances are complicated.
As opposed to Warner/DC?
This would mean that Marvel couldn't even make Spider-Man comics anymore.
I love the MCU and these characters, but fuck Disney, these families deserve more for their creations. I hope Disney loses and makes this a bigger precedent for bullshit corporations to not be able to do this shit anymore.
This is to prevent copyright 'termination', termination seems a lot more cut and dry than a revenue split?
Pulling the plug on ownership just as wonky only because there's so many layers.
This seems to be an IP issue, as in if you do worm for hire you don't own the IP (usually), but where do these characters fall? Are they IP of their creators or did ownership pass to Marvel as the company of employ per contracts or agreements written decades and decades ago.
i like spider-man and marvel but also just hope marvel just actually loses that'd be really funny. im really chaotic, think coporations suck, and always back the creators
I really hope the heirs win, but Disney has too much money and influence.
I have a stupid question. I know Kirby's name just recently started appearing again on works he created. Was the family not getting paid before that & are they getting paid now? (and if they are, I'm sure they're rooting for Eternals to be as successful as possible.)
Most likely scenario - settlement out of court, cost is passed on the consumers, the beat goes on.
If they were work for hire, seems like a pretty open and shut case? Maybe they are looking for a settlement
Would this let Disney squirm out of the Spider-Man/Sony contract? Like return the rights to Ditko and set up a long term contract for using Spider-Man in Marvel directly? Since Marvel and Disney don't own Spider-Man legally the contract with Sony should go poof.
It's cute that you think that will actually happen.
Just like Disney and their library of characters, they will find a way to have them extended.
I'm not a legal expert, but i think the issue is murky because there were no legal contracts involved. Comics used to work on gentlemen's agreements.
I don't know shit about lawsuits, isn't this more about stuff like this:
If these characters were made as work-for-hire, don't the estates have no real chance of getting them? Is the Ditko estate just fishing for a settlement?
And this isn't just the MCU, this would remove them from all comics, shows, movies, toys, everything, right?
Yes. I thought this was settled years ago. Not sure what's new now.
Upon further reading this seems to be the copyright termination claim that some original authors have the rights to. Different laws apply depending if the work was created before or after 1978.
AFAIK the law does not apply for work made for hire. That's the reason Cameron was able to reclaim Terminator, but Captain America or Superman was not able to be reclaimed by the heirs.
If anything this will get the heirs hush money and settled out of court, which is what I think they are looking for anyways.
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Smells like they're fishing for settlements, not an actually groundbreaking jurisprudence.
I'm all I'm favor of artists getting more recognition (including financial) for things they've created, like all these living artists seeing ridiculously small checks when characters they created for a publisher become big, but I could give two shits about estates (besides partners/spouses) tbh, because I have no love for inherited wealth.
I'm all I'm favor of artists getting more recognition (including financial) for things they've created, like all these living artists seeing ridiculously small checks when characters they created for a publisher become big, but I could give two shits about estates (besides partners/spouses) tbh, because I have no love for inherited wealth.
Legally speaking they have no standing. If I pay someone to make something for me then I own it, not the guy who made it.
I'm all for this if the creator is still alive and directly doing it like Victor Miller with Friday the 13th. Not so much for estates. Generational wealth accumulation is shit, and characters not eventually reaching public domain is shit whether corporate or kids/grandkids of a creator.
