Hello again, Comic Book Artist.

Remember last summer I warned you? “Before you take the job with that comic book company,” I said, “I want to make it absolutely clear that if you accept it you will NEVER, EVER own the rights to your work. Your employer will be free to create $100 million movies with ten sequels. Your precious creations will be works for hire and your only compensation will be the salary they pay you.”

My case in point was Jack Kirby, one of the co-creators of such immortal comic book characters as The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man and X-Men. “These characters have generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue over the last five decades from everything from comic books to movies to toys and collectibles,” the New York Times reported. But because Kirby produced them as a writer for hire, he had no copyright claim on them After he died his estate tried to recover the rights under a provision of the US copyright law entitling next of kin to terminate contracts signed by the deceased artist, But the claim was rejected by a court because – again – Kirby had given up his rights as an employee of Marvel on a for-hire basis.

In case that decision didn’t sink in, my Comic Book Writer friend (and your brother the novelist for hire), in December Gary Friedrich, claiming to be creator of another Marvel blockbuster, Ghost Writer, met the same fate beneath the gavel of a federal judge. It seems Friedrich didn’t read, or take seriously enough, the fine print on the Marvel paychecks he endorsed, according to an Associated Press story.

“US District Judge Katherine Forrest tossed out 4-year-old claims brought by Gary Friedrich, who said he created the motorcycle-driving Ghost Rider with the skeletal head that sometimes had fire blazing from it. A Ghost Rider of the 1950s and ’60s was a Western character who rode a horse. The judge said Friedrich gave up all ownership rights when he signed checks containing language relinquishing all rights to the predecessor companies of Marvel Entertainment LLC.” (See ‘Ghost Rider’ comics creator loses rights lawsuit)

So – has the lesson sunk in? As we said when we wrote up the Kirby case, Abandon All Hope, Ye Comic Book Artists.

Richard Curtis

Dear Comic Book Artist:

I appreciate your asking my advice.  You won’t like what I have to say but I am going to tell it to you straight.

You are a brilliantly gifted draughtsman and the superhero you’ve created is absolutely unique.  You look like a very nice person and I don’t want to see your heart broken.  So, before you take the job with that comic book company I want to make it absolutely clear that if you accept it you will NEVER, EVER own the rights to your work.  Your employer will be free to create $100 million movies with ten sequels. Your precious creations will be works for hire and your only compensation will be the salary they pay you.

Consider that job a life sentence from which there is no appeal.  No appeal whatever. Have I made myself plain? Do you want to let that sink in before you accept their invitation to draw for them?

But don’t take my word for it. Read Michael Cieply’s New York Times article reporting on the ruling by a federal judge: Court Ruling Says Marvel Holds Rights, Not an Artist. If you feel my caveat was ambiguous, read the judge’s statement about the merits of the suit brought against Marvel: “In Thursday’s ruling, Judge McMahon provided a detailed review of the disputed Marvel works, and concluded that the Kirbys’ evidence did not make ‘so much as a dent’ in the assertion that Mr. Kirby had worked for hire, and thus did not own the copyrights.” Courts have taken similar positions in lawsuits concerning Superman and Stan Lee-created characters.

By the way, your brother, the author who’s just been hired by a book publisher to novelize a video game? The same rule applies. In the neighborhood I grew up in the rule was called “Tough Noogies.”

Richard Curtis

The Department of Justice, the FBI, a consortium of comic book publishers, and Florida law firm Katten Muchen Rosenman has shut down pirate website www.Htmlcomics.com.

The operation, said the law firm’s press release, is “believed to have been the largest, best-known and most easily accessible website of its kind, producing rampant copyright infringement on a daily basis and depriving artists and publishers of hard-earned and much-needed revenue. By April 2010, the website claimed to have an average of 1.6 million visits per day and more than 6,630,021 pages of comic books offered for unrestricted viewing. Ridding the Internet of such a large source of pirated content is a major victory for the comic industry and the publishing industry in general.”

Not officially named in the action is author Harlan Ellison, a righteous and relentless pursuer of pirates whose action against AOL resulted in an important settlement.  Ellison’s  properties were among those purloined, according to the author, and the footprints leading to Htmlcomics’ door bear the spoor of Ellison and his “Flying Blue Monkey Squadron”, friends and wellwishers who keep an “eye on the street” and may have assisted the FBI in locating the superperp.

The press release in full is reprinted below, or you can click on it here.

***********

May 5, 2010
Download PDF
LOS ANGELES – Comic book pirating website www.htmlcomics.com has been shut down and all of its servers confiscated, following an FBI search based on a warrant alleging criminal copyright infringement. The FBI investigation was performed in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice, a consortium of comic publishers and their legal counsel, a team of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP attorneys specializing in the areas of intellectual property, publishing and comics, as well as local counsel in Miami.

Prior to the combined efforts of the consortium and the authorities, Htmlcomics was believed to have been the largest, best-known and most easily accessible website of its kind, producing rampant copyright infringement on a daily basis and depriving artists and publishers of hard-earned and much-needed revenue. By April 2010, the website claimed to have an average of 1.6 million visits per day and more than 6,630,021 pages of comic books offered for unrestricted viewing. Ridding the Internet of such a large source of pirated content is a major victory for the comic industry and the publishing industry in general.

Htmlcomics creator Gregory Hart, 47, acquired pirated copies of more than 5,700 series of comics spanning every major comic publisher in the United States, and made them available for public viewing on his site. The comics could be viewed from cover to cover and page by page and the infringing copies were reproduced on Hart’s servers and publicly displayed without authorization. Titles available included Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, The Simpsons, Futurama, Avengers, Incredible Hulk, Wolverine, Dilbert, Peanuts, Catwoman, Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Hellboy, Star Wars, 300, Predator, The Mask, Iron Man and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, among thousands of others.

The FBI’s Tampa Field Office headed the investigation leading to the warrant. The consortium of publishers cooperating with law enforcement include Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Bongo Comics, Archie Comics, Conan Properties Int’l LLC, Mirage Studios Inc., and United Media.

Katten has one of the nation’s premier, full-service entertainment and media practices, providing comprehensive domestic and international representation in the entertainment industry. The firm’s entertainment and media attorneys consider themselves partners with clients from concept to completion. When litigation becomes necessary, the practice represents its clients aggressively and effectively, in matters involving intellectual property issues, contractual and business tort disputes and distribution rights issues, among others. Katten also provides representation to entrepreneurs in business and personal matters. The firm’s entertainment attorneys pride themselves on providing cutting-edge, creative solutions to complicated problems.
Related Practices

* Entertainment and Media

* Intellectual Property

Amazon has neutered the Buy buttons for all comic book and graphic novel publishers distributed by Diamond Comics Distributors, according to Calvin Reid of Publishers Weekly. But this is not a trade dispute like Amazon vs. Macmillan, but rather “an effort to correct the glitch that caused the wild discounting of graphic novels on Amazon.com,” writes Reid, who adds that “there has been speculation that the glitch was caused by Diamond.”

Frozen in time, space and commerce are such leaders as Marvel, IDW, Dark Horse, Archaia, Image Comics, and Top Shelf. Reid explains that “Amazon has to do an audit to figure out which customers got books and at what prices.”

When will the buttons be turned on again? It will take a superhero who can see into the future. “There is no timetable for when this will be completed,” one source was quoted in Reid’s news story.

Pictured is a sculpture by Mark Newman of Bobby Darke, a.k.a. Iceman, one of the original members of Professor Charles Xavier’s X-Men. Bobby Drake (a.k.a. Iceman).

RC