Blog@Newsarama » Friedrich sues Marvel, Sony over Ghost Rider
I hope he gets what he is owed, this surely isn’t the first time Marvel has done something like this.
Blog@Newsarama » Friedrich sues Marvel, Sony over Ghost Rider
Friedrich sues Marvel, Sony over Ghost Rider
Tuesday April 10, 2007, 8:42 am
Reuters
reports that Silver Age comics writer Gary Friedrich has sued Marvel
Enterprises, Sony Pictures and several other companies, claiming an
unauthorized “joint venture and conspiracy to exploit, profit from and
utilize” his copyright to the Ghost Rider character.Friedrich was co-creator and initial writer of the character.
The lawsuit, filed April 4 in federal court in Illinois, claims 21 violations based on the production and marketing of the Ghost Rider movie. According to legal documents, Friedrich alleges the copyrights reverted from Marvel to him in 2001:
Friedrich
created the character of Johnny Blaze and his alter ego Ghost Rider in
1968. Three years later, he agreed to publish the character in comic
books through Stan Lee’s Magazine Management, which eventually became
Marvel Entertainment.Under the agreement, Magazine Management became holder of the
copyright for the first issue, which explains the origin story of Ghost
Rider. Lee’s company also held the copyrights to subsequent Ghost Rider
works.However, Magazine Management allegedly never registered the work
with the Copyright Office and, pursuant to federal law, Friedrich
regained the copyrights to Ghost Rider in 2001.
Friedrich seeks unspecified damages based on copyright infringement,
negligence, waste, misappropriation of characters, unauthorized use of
the characters, false advertising, and other claims.
Other defendants include Sony’s Columbia TriStar Motion Picture
Group, Relativity Media, Crystal Sky Pictures, Michael De Luca Prods.,
Hasbro and Take-Two Interactive.
Technorati Tags: comic books, Ghost Rider, Marvel Comics, Gary Friedrich, Sony Pictures,
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