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Gaiman v. McFarlane Decision Handed Down
aronc writes "In a case of speedy justice a jury today ruled that Neil Gaiman was in the right on all 9 counts in the case he brought against Todd McFarlane. More details at ComiCon Pulse and ICv2. This case revolved around ownership stakes for Medieval Spawn, Angela, Cagliostro, and further contracts involving the rights to Miracle Man."
I don't suppose any legal eagle sites out there have a more in-depth look at this one? Legal and/or copyright sluts (myself included) want to know if this decision means anything other than a bunch of fanboys (myself towards the front of the line) finally get to buy the Miracleman trade paperbacks we've been coveting.
It pains me to see two parties, I so much admire, going to court. Hopefully there will be no hard feelings, or what poses for them will pass.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Bwahahahahahahahaha!
Ok now that thats out of my system.....
McFarlane is a businessman first and has been for a long time, once he was a great illustrator (probably still is...when he does draw....) and his high horse attitude just makes stories like this and situations like this very amusing.
I was actually shocked when I read this headline, as I have not followed comics seriously in many years....but those two are big boys in the industry....and I'm glad for Gaiman
I can almost see McFarlane standing there before trial in his best brooding glare (ala the intro to the Spawn animated series) saying "....you cannot hope to win against Lord McFarlane, you cannot hope...ahh screw it....would you care for a limited edition gold-plated Malebolgia figure and we'll call it even?"
Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!
What about Angela?
I was pissed off when McFarlane killed her in Spawn #100 (she was the coolest Spawn character and we never got enough of her), saying that he would never bring her back, but now if Gaiman had some right on her that McFarlane disputed I wonder if he killed her just to piss Gaiman off.
And now that Gaiman's right on her are affirmed, what will he do with her, sell it to McFarlane so he can keep her dead or find some way to ressuscite her???
"The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." Bill Gates,
The real worrisome part of the ruling, to me, are the counts against Image Comics, itself. Image Comics doesn't not function as DC or Marvel does. It's not a traditional publishing house. Image is a collective to bring together a series of creators to pool their resources and share space in PREVIEWS and administrative costs and whatnot. Each creator pays a flat fee to Image Central for the paperwork, basically, of getting a comic printed and shipped. Image doesn't own any characters, nor design any comics.
Image has no say as to the editorial content of any of the Founding Fathers' (McFarlane, Larsen, Valentino, Silvestri at this point) titles. So if the jury is ruling against Image Comics because they did or didn't put Neil Gaiman's bio on the back cover of an ANGELA trade, then that count should be overturned. It's factually incorrect. That's Todd McFarlane Productions' problem. Not Image's.
Other than those two counts, I'm happy with the ruling. I think now Todd should just exchange MarvelMan/MiracleMan to Neil for full rights to Angela (dead as of SPAWN #100), Medievil Spawn, and Cogliostro, and everyone call the deal done.
THEN those lawsuits over who owns what can begin. =)
-Augie
Joan, who had the 4.00pm in the office sweep, collected. A mad rush to get down to the courtroom -- I left books, glasses, pens and my phone behind in the lawyers' office, and zoomed.
The jury ruled in our favour. I appreciate their work, and the incredibly hard work of the legal team, enormously. I regret that it needed to happen.
Tomorrow, with any luck, I get my phone back.
(and earlier....)
Lots of requests for interviews about the trial, which I'm saying no to. Win, lose, or win some counts and lose others, I think my position's going to be the same on that. As I explained to one journalist, it's not wrestling.
That was sarcasm, if you didn't catch it. McFarlene is a bit sue happy. Paladium had a fairly neat post-apocolyptic gothic horror world called "Nightspawn". Other than the fact that it had the name "Spawn" in it, it was totally different conceptually other than "horror".
But if you are tight for money, it doesn't pay to fight a legal battle. So now Nightspawn doesn't exit and it's been renamed to Nightbane.
No! It's a *SIG*. Keep the Special Interest Groups away! (Con joke!)