FYI

http://www.fandango.com/movieblog/wr...er-698384.html


Not sure if I am inclined to pay to see Marvel movies going forward.

Does that webpage still work?

Cause it just keeps going blank for me :( i'm curious what shena*****ns have happened

The link works for me, but here is the text of the article:

"Lawsuits are all too common in the entertainment industry. As soon as a property becomes a product worth millions, people come out of the woodwork with claims to its fortune. A lot of the time, these are lawsuits wherein an aspiring writer with an inconvenient lack of evidence asserts their idea was stolen. There are times, however, when the victim in question has a legitimate, undeniable claim to a property, but contracts and the strict letter of the law denies it to them. That's the ongoing struggle writer Gary Friedrich currently finds himself in.

Basically, Friedrich created the character of Ghost Rider for Marvel in the '70s. It's not a matter of dispute, it's just a fact. Marvel owns the rights to the character and has ever since Friedrich signed his creation over to them three decades ago. However, before the first Ghost Rider film was released, Friedrich sued all involved under the belief that while Marvel undoubtedly owned the comic rights, he owned the film rights and should be involved both creatively and financially. He lost that lawsuit. That's not where things ended, though.

Friedrich has since made no further claims to the ownership of the character, he has, however, attempted to rightfully claim authorship of him in his private life. He's attended comics conventions and the likes as a paid guest, using his status as the creator of an iconic comic (and now film) character as his main source of income now that he's 68 years old. However, Marvel is still demanding in a court of law that Friedrich pay them the approximately $17,000 he's earned in retirement by acknowledging he's the creator of Ghost Rider.

Yes, you read that correctly. Marvel, a company that was recently purchased by Disney for $4 billion, is demanding that the person who created one of its most iconic and enduring characters - a person who is now 68 years old and is more or less broke after years of legal struggle - pay them his remaining $17,000 for having the gall to make money off of his history with the character.

Obviously Marvel has every right to prevent Friedrich, or any other artist who sold one of their creations to the company, from trying to steal their profits by exercise ownership over the character and, for example, selling new comics, but that's not what he's doing. All Friedrich is doing is exercising his authorship of the character. To try and legally squelch him from doing even that is just downright petty. And yet that's exactly what they're seeking with this new court ruling. Not only are they demanding the money, which is barely enough to even buy a new car these days, but they're demanding that Friedrich be legally prohibited from saying he even created the character if there is any conceivable way he can gain from stating such facts.

Sure, there's little question to the legality of what Marvel is doing, but what about the morality of it? Does it make you view Marvel any differently? Will it have any impact on whether or not you pay to go see Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance knowing that not a fraction of a penny of your ticket price will end up in Friedrich's bank account, or that you won't even see his name in the credits?"

And this is why we need to report clones and why Cryptic needs to be more active in following up on those reports. Marvel has a history of suing over the least little thing and Disney (who now owns Marvel) is even worse. If they will sue a 68 year old retiree over $17000, what makes you think they will not bring another lawsuit against Cryptic?

Aaaaand this is why we (still) are in need of a Comic Culture section to the forums.
In the meantime may I suggest 'Fanbase Alpha'. ;)

What kind of jerk sues a 68 year old man because he SAYS that he created a comic that he did IN FACT create! THIS IS MADNESS!!!

Making it illegal to say that he was the dude that made Ghost Rider is pretty doggone ridiculous.

By this logic why don't they just go after Stan Lee now?

I don't get it... is there really some law where he's not allowed to say he was the auther of ghost rider, even if the entire world knows this fact, anyone can say he was the original creator of ghost rider, but only he is the one who is legally prevented from saying the same thing?

He's the only one I know if from recent memory that's not allowed to say they created a comic book character that they indeed did create.

There were issues with creators simply not being credited for their creation for a while a la Bob Kane's case but this is the first time I've heard of an original author being effectively banned from being able to say they made something in this manner.

Hell, read up on John Fogerty a little, if you're so inclined. He couldn't even perform his own music for decades 'cause someone else owned the rights. It's not just the comics biz that's like that :(