Marvel Suing to Keep Rights to ‘Avengers’ Characters From Copyright Termination

[Moviefreak]

Thing is, Uncensored Mouse was using material that had fallen into public domain. The publisher had every right. Disney got it squashed anyway. Because they can.

But it actually wasn't.

"The Uncensored Mouse was a 1989 comic book series published by Malibu Graphics ' Eternity Comics line. Disney brought an action against Malibu, claiming that the comic infringed on their copyrights. While it was popularly assumed that the strips in The Uncensored Mouse were in the public domain—and Blackbeard and Malibu evidently believed they were—the first week of strips was actually copyrighted on January 3, 1930 and renewed September 23, 1957. At the time of The Uncensored Mouse, this renewal effectively protected the first week of strips for 75 years from publication: in effect, through 2005."

 

[Treadwell]

ahhh!

 

[joberg]

Let`s not forget that the copyright for Mickey Mouse expires in 2024 Disney lobbied Congress many times of the decades to extend the copyright laws (well, we have to thank them for something). Now, are they going to do the same thing for 2024?

 

[sbaxter]

Let`s not forget that the copyright for Mickey Mouse expires in 2024

But not the trademark. That lasts essentially forever.

SSB

 

[DarkHelmet]

Boils down to read your contract. If you sign your rights away, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Comic Strip artist have been going through it for over a hundred years. Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes actually stood up against his syndicate regarding merchandising. He knew he didn't have a chance because of the contract he signed, but in the end, his Syndicate backed down and gave in. They had the right to actually fire Watterson and replace him with other artist, but they did the right thing.

Richard Newsom formed Creators Syndicate in the late 1980's that allowed creators to retain the rights to their works. A first in the industry.

 

[dascoyne]

 

[renaissance_man]

It's funny how money is a big motivator in all this.
If Marvel went bust would the families still be trying to get the rights to the characters back?

I understand the frustration but if your great grandparent signed a contract to do some work for hire and agreed in that contract to sign away rights, you cant then decades later retrospectively decide to sue for ownership.
America is built on corporations and therefore has created contracts to favour the corporations.
Would it be a nice gesture to offer the families a couple of hundred thousand as a goodwill? Maybe. Are Marvel obliated to do so? No.

The entertainment business has always been weird, the whole residual payments aspect is crazy.
Does a surgeon get a bonus residual payment for every year a patient lives after an operation? No. The surgeon was paid for their work and they keep going.

That's Hollyweird for you.