It appears that the Estate of Steve Ditko is trying to get a piece of the Spider-Man, Doctor Strange action. Marvel is fighting back and as a preventive neasure they're going after Stan Lee's Estate and Gene Colan's. MarvelMarvel claims that the work these people did was "work for hire" and that protects them from losing copyrights to their characters. This kinda reminds me of the Glut v. Mattel, where Mattel won.
If I recall correctly, the estates of Siegel and Schuster tried this with DC and failed... also Jack Kirby's estate lost their fight as well. They settled out of court... not a defeat, but not a victory either. Point is that in this kind of fights, the precedent is in favor of the corporations, especially in "Work for Hire" situations like the comic book industry.
If the Stan Lee and Steve Ditko Estates get to win, it would literally mean the end of Marvel.
Spider-Man, Marvel's Flagship character, gone. Iron Man, Hulk, X-men, Thor,Fantastic Four, most of the original Avengers, it would be disastrous!
They are scummy AF, but the pattern has the odds tipped in favor of the big corporations and the Estates of the WFH artists losing. The best case scenario for them is a settlement.
ReplyDeleteI have done creative WFH and I'm aware on how awful those contracts are... and signed some because, I needed to put food on the table. As unfair as they are, they're legal if both parties agreed to them.
At the same time, I find it awful that the people fighting against these aren't the artists who made the creative choices that led to the creation of these characters, but leeches trying to get royalties for work they didn't do... Jad Kirby, Lee, Ditko, etc. been alive and the courts settled in their favor, it would be different, since the artists/writers themselves are getting paid.
But this isn't a blog for legal advice and I'm not qualified to give legal advice... Playing Ace Attorney a lawyer does not make.