Monday, September 21, 2009

Artists' Rights

Apparently Jack Kirby's estate isn't going to take it anymore.

The heirs of Jack Kirby, co-creator of Captain America, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, The Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, The Silver Surfer and Thor and have sent notices terminating copyright to publishers Marvel and Disney, as well as film studios that have made movies and TV shows based on characters he created or co-created, including Sony, Universal, 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures ...

Such claims, if found valid, would begin from 2014 and, as always, its worth noting that Marvel/Disney will still own the trademarks of the characters in comics, and the studios in movies.

As the L.A. Times and the Nikkster note:

The children of Kirby, who died in 1994, are being represented by Los Angeles law firm Toberoff & Associates, which has represented the heirs of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel in a similar claim against Warner Bros.

It's always seemed weird to me that companies are considered "people" who can hold copyrights, have rights of speech, rights of privacy, etc.. But then we live in an age where companies are all. Even if they don't hold the pencil or create the characters.

There's a reason the U.S. of A. is known as "our charming corporatist state." The guvmint is all about the care and feeding of our fine, transnational corporations.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

interesting reading:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2469/how-can-a-corporation-be-legally-considered-a-person

Anonymous said...

While the moral failings of the corporate system at advantage in America are far and wide, there are equal, if not far worse, trespasses directly the result of familial or religious control over mercantilism. World history was literally written by each.

Perhaps what is at play here is anger directed at the center of power, regardless of what uniform that power happens to be wearing at this moment in history. And the anger is effective, as it absolves us all from our collective responsibility for the messes we ultimately help create by repeatedly and predictably responding to the latest fear of the day.

We live in a plutocracy and have always lived under a plutocracy, even while Hamilton and Jefferson argued. The corporate uniform exposed, the same criminals will simply put on another uniform more palatable to the political taste of the new era.

Anonymous said...

You forgot to mention who you're quoting.

Ed said...

A guy named Ed, from 'The History of The Rise and Fall of Everything in the Universe for all Eternity'

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