Monday, November 07, 2011

A Discussion of the Kirby Copyright Decision

I'm sure some of you have your eyes glaze over every time I bring up Jack Kirby or copyright. However, I keep mentioning it as intellectual property, more than factories or natural resources, has become one of the most valuable assets in the world today.

The decision against the Kirby estate in its attempt to recover copyrights on many of the Marvel characters is a warning to anyone who creates for a living.

At the Center for Cartoon Studies, a graduate school program in comics located in Vermont, Stephen R. Bissette, cartoonist, publisher and creator rights advocate, discussed the Kirby decision with lawyer Oliver Goodenough, a professor at the Vermont Law School. The audio runs an hour and covers issues like nepotism, work-for-hire, risk, ethics and the history of employer-employee relations in the comic book field. I recommend it highly.

2 comments:

Charles Kenny said...

Don't be silly Mark, anyone in the content creation industries whose eyes glaze over at the thought of copyright are deluding themselves.

The times are changing and they'd do well to pay attention.

Thanks for posting the link. I'll have a listen tonight.

Demetre said...

Well I'm glad you did post this. Keeps me informed as to what rights as an artist they're trying to take away from me.