It appears that Marvel have offered Ghost Rider creator Gary Friedrich a settlement, thus ending the lengthy case which had previously bankrupted the veteran writer. The details of the settlement have not been offered to the public, but Friedrich’s attorney has informed a federal New York judge that the case can now be dismissed.
Hopefully this is good news for Friedrich, whose battle for rights over the Ghost Rider came to a head in 2007, when the first movie was released. There was sniping on both sides, with Friedrich suing Marvel and then Marvel counter-suing Freidrich and, well, let Jeff Trexler explain it all in more detail.
Interestingly enough, however, writer Bob Layton – best known for his work on Iron Man, aspects of which were reflected in the subsequent film releases – has also taken to Twitter to announce that Marvel have also made a settlement with HIM over a character issue. Referencing David Michelinie in his tweet, this almost certainly refers to the ‘Demon in a Bottle’ storyline he wrote.
I wonder if we’ll see other creators revealing settlements over the next few weeks. It looks like some new policy might have come in, and hopefully it’s one which will give all creators the best possible deal.
We’ve been meaning to write up the disgusting legal maneuver that has left 69-year-old Gary Friedrich owing Marvel $17,000 after a failed attempt to get some ownership of Ghost Rider, a character he co-created back in the ’70s. In a story first reported here by Torsten, Marvel/Disney filed a countersuit for copyright infringement based on Friedrich’s convention appearances selling Ghost Rider-related merchandise. As Daniel Best wrote:
This stipulation has been agreed upon and so ordered by the court, with the final judgement reflecting all that contained within. This now means that Gary Friedrich has the right to appeal, and appeal he shall, but it also means that he now owes Marvel Comics, a multi-million dollar making machine, backed by the multi-billion dollar Disney company, $17,000 and cannot ever sell anything related to Ghost Rider, nor can he even say that he created Ghost Rider for any form of gain or advertising. Well done Marvel!! I do wonder though, how does the likes of Joe Quesada, who has also made millions from Marvel in recent times, take the court’s judgement? As Friedrich himself has stated, he is unemployed, has no real assets and is, for all intents and purposes, destitute. $17,000 might be chump change for some, but for someone in Friedrich’s situation it’s a lot of cash.
The reaction to this has been two-fold. First, it’s the latest and worst example of an encroaching corporate power-grab against actual creators—although it is merely financial Darwinism in a world where corporations are people, there is the chance of a significant PR backlash, as
James Sturm’s call for a Marvel boycott earlier in the week over the Kirby matter shows.
Second and even more chilling is the possible end to the gentleman’s agreement that has allowed freelance artists to sell sketches, drawings and even entire books of art based on copyrighted characters. Marvel and DC have long looked the other way for this staple of the freelancer’s income. But Disney doesn’t. If Friedrich owes $17,000 over the bits and pieces he has sold over the years, what about the countless, expensive convention sketches by Adam Hughes to name just one? Or Steve Rude. Or anyone.
These questions are now circulating everywhere. In the meantime, Friedrich is old, broke and in ill health. Although many doubt Marvel will try to collect the money—since he had none—the ruling has taken away one of the few ways he had to make money. As he has written to several supporters, he is in danger of losing his home. In a recent Facebook status update, he wrote:
Since the various news agencies and websites have reported the ruling against me on my claims against Marvel in the Ghost Rider lawsuit, and the assessment of a $17,000 judgment against me and my company instead, I have read an amazing amount of comments in my support on the internet, and have received many messages of support directly. Although the reports of my emplo
.
Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume I: Reason in Common Sense
Over thirty-five years ago, a major comics company was set to release a Hollywood blockbuster based on one of their most popular characters. The original creators had been forgotten by the public, forced into near poverty while that company made millions of dollars in profits. It took a publicity campaign by comics professionals to persuade that publisher to acknowledge their proper credit, and to pay a stipend to those creators.
Today, history repeats itself once more. This time, the company is Marvel Comics. The creator: Gary Friedrich, who has filed a copyright lawsuit against Marvel to reclaim his creation Ghost Rider. Daniel Best reports on the current state of the suit, which was recently decided in Marvel’s favor.
What makes it unsettling is this:
As per the courts instructions Friedrich has to account for any and all money that he has received, “…relating to the gross and net amount derived from Plaintiffs’ sale of goods bearing the Ghost Rider image, likeness, or Marvel trademark.” This means that Friedrich has to account for every cent each and every time he sold a print at a convention or any other item to anyone, that has the Ghost Rider image or name on it, and he has to account to all of the defendants in the case, and there’s quite a few of those, including, but not limited to, Marvel Defendants, Movie Defendants, Hasbro, Inc. and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. If the defendants don’t like, or don’t agree with, the numbers that Friedrich supplies then they can, and probably will, ask for a deposition whereby they can question him, under oath. It was no secret that Friedrich commissioned artists such as Herb Trimpe, Arthur Suydam and others to draw Ghost Rider images which were then sold as prints over the years. If you bought one thinking you were helping Gary, well, that cash will most likely end up in Marvels pockets. This amount will be factored into any damages that the defendants can claim from Friedrich, all of which will be bundled up neatly into a final judgement so the case can then proceed to the appeal stage.
What makes this worse: Gary Friedrich is currently unemployed from his corporate courier job (Joe Shuster was a deliveryman with failing eyesight, Jerry Siegel a file clerk when they could no longer make a living
Nice catch on the Layton settlement, this is the correct link to Layton’s tweet btw:
https://twitter.com/Bob_Layton/status/377823458589036544
His mentioning a “character rights issue” suggests this could be related to the use of James Rhodes/War Machine in the movies (rather than the Demon in a Bottle storyline).
Just take care of your creators corporate comics and you won’t have these kinds of problems ever again. Give them bonuses, rewards, benefits for creating original ideas for your spinning grinding wheel of entertainment if you won’t offer them copyright ownership. These creators are putting dollars in your pockets, do something for them before it gets ugly.
Now, settle with the Kirby. Estate.
The Corporate Masters are a double-edged sword. On the one hand are the asymmetry they can bring to bear against individuals. On the other is that they have high (total in some cases) regard for risk management. And in many of these cases, there is some significant potential risk exposure.
Nice to see Friedrich and Layton taken care of.
On the subject of these copyright cases, what is it like for comics creators in other countries? Seems to me a lot of Japanese creators make a lot of money, but I don’t know if they retain any copyright or if they just have a deal to be cut in on profits with the publisher.
Japanese comics creators retain copyright on their works. But so do most American comics creators, just not those working on licensed characters.
It is great to see the folks who, you know, actually made comics benefit from the flood of dollars their creations have brought in. There’s no reason why comics can’t operate under the same rules as TV and other media.
Mike
While one wishes every worker to get a reward(so this is good news) it’s just a shame that other professions like scientists, engineers, designers etc don’t get any benefit from their creations even though arguably their creations are of more benefit to humanity than media output.
Wonder why why we don’t see anybody making as much fuss for their rights as we do for comic books.
For example my contract states everything I create(even in my own time) ,if it has the slightest connection to the business of my employer it belongs to them(and this is pretty much standard in engineering field).
David, that is a standard in other fields, too. Some companies (and industries) are very protective of their employees’ creations. I understand the intent of this contract stuff, (if you invent a new product on the bus ride home, it is still not yours, because the company expects that they are sponsoring your ideas with their paycheques and equipment) but it can get onerous.
If this was Science Beat, we’d probably invest more time in scientist rights
Maybe, the Efforts of these 2, Brave Guys
will , finally, open a Door for the Jack Kirby Estate.
Jillian Kirby,Jack’s youngest Grand Daughter has begun “Kirby4Heroes”,
in an effort to assist Members of the Comic Book Industry
who are in Need.(See Her FaceBook page for all the details.
The “Hero Initiative” is supported through Her Work , as well.)
She never met Her Grand Father, but has come to understand the lives of people like Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and many others , who probably feel forgotten (and i am not educated enough to know all of them to include. i don’t wish to ignore any of the men and women who have given so much to my memories,creativity, and present life.)
Thank you for writing this Article.
i am very Glad for These Creators.
i wonder about the case of Bill Finger, and His “Creation” of The Bat-Man ; will anything come down to His Estate and Heirs.
Again, i am not expert, but i feel somewhat convinced that
Bill Finger had a huge involvement in Bat-Man, and Bob Kane
never came through on His Promises to Mr. Finger.
i Hope The Best for all of these who are Heroes, to me…
Al wrote: “Some companies (and industries) are very protective of their employees’ creations…(if you invent a new product on the bus ride home, it is still not yours, because the company expects that they are sponsoring your ideas with their paycheques and equipment) but it can get onerous.”
My dad was a university professor in analytical chemistry and part of his employment agreement was that in addition to teaching, he was obligated to conduct research, write papers, run the lab, etc. Anything he discovered – because he was salaried, tenured and received health coverage and things like that, and because he was using the university’s labs and equipment – the school would own but he would get credit and royalties in perpetuity should the discovery yield cash in some form.
He did push some research projects forward to the next level, but nothing that would get him “Eureka!” loot.
I’ve worked in places where I was presented with documents to sign that would grant all my off-site independent work to the employer, but they were easy to negotiate down to much more acceptable terms.
Gary Friedrich is VERY lucky that Marvel did this and didn’t go with leaving him destitute from the court case he lost against them…
Most people, I believe, think of Layton as an artist rather than a writer — though he did write and draw the two Hercules mini-series in the ’70s/’80s and he and Michelenie co-plotted their Iron Man runs.
[...] Marvel Reaches Settlements with Gary Friedrich, Bob Layton (comicsbeat.com) [...]