DC Comics hires big gun in Siegel suit
Newsarama is reporting that DC Comics has replaced their “local outside counsel with Los Angeles “Super Lawyer” Daniel Petrocelli.”
Time Warner’s decision to bring on such a high-profile litigator as its new outside counsel would seem to signal that the company does not expect a settlement with the Siegel family in the foreseeable future. It’s equally [...]
Posted on: Mar 2, 2010, Section: Comic Books, Legal, Comments: 5 Comments
Judge rules against Tribune Co. over Dick Tracy
A judge has ruled against the Tribune Co. which sought to dismiss a lawsuit filed Warren Beaty over the rights of the Dick Tracy character. Beaty sued the Chicago media company after it notified Beaty that they were taking back the rights since he had not exercised them since the 1990 movie in which Beaty [...]
Posted on: Feb 22, 2010, Section: Comic strips, Legal, Comments: 1 Comment
Winnie-the-Pooh heirs sue Disney. Again
The family of the late Stephen Slesinger, who gave Winnie-the-Pooh his trademark red shirt, has sued Disney over alleged unpaid royalties. The family had previously sued Disney and lost over licensing rights. The court decision established Disney as the owner, but the family was due 2% royalties which the family now alleges Disney is underreporting. [...]
Posted on: Nov 16, 2009, Section: Animation, Legal, Comments: 5 Comments
Ex-New York Post editor sues paper
Sandra Guzman, who was fired from her editing job at the New York Post for being critical of the paper after it ran Sean Delonas’ dead chimpanzee cartoon has filed a lawsuit against the paper. The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan alleges the she was “subjected to a hostile work environment in [...]
Posted on: Nov 11, 2009, Section: Editorial cartooning, Legal, Newspaper industry, Comments: 0 Comments
Judge throws out Steve Kelley lawsuit
A lawsuit filed against the San Diego Union-Tribune by their former editorial cartoonist, Steve Kelley, has been thrown out due to lack of “evidence of any unfair or unlawful business practice.” The ruling is a set back for Kelley who accused his former employer of intimidating current Union-Tribune Steve Breen from developing a comic strip [...]
Posted on: Nov 11, 2009, Section: Comic strips, Controversies, Legal, Comments: 0 Comments
Warren Beatty given green light to sue TMS
Last spring I reported that actor Warren Beatty had filed a lawsuit against Tribune Co and that Tribune Media Syndicate had filed an adversary complaint in a dispute over the television and movie rights to the Dick Tracy character. Beatty, who bought the rights in the 1980’s contends that he had started a television special [...]
Posted on: Nov 10, 2009, Section: Comic strips, Legal, Comments: 2 Comments
2 Chicagoans allegedly plotted to kill Westergaard
From an AP story comes news that two men from Chicago were arrested for allegedly plotting attacks on overseas targets including Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.
Federal prosecutors have charged 49-year-old David Coleman Headley and 48-year-old Tahawwur Hussain Rana. Prosecutors contend Headley told FBI agents that the initial plan called for an attack against the newspaper [...]
Posted on: Oct 28, 2009, Section: Controversies, International, Legal, Comments: 1 Comment
Orphan Works bill status
Tom Richmond has posted an email he’s received from the Board of the Illustrators’ Partnership on the status of the Orphan Works bill and the implications on how the lawsuits against Google for it’s digitizing books will affect copyright law.
In 2004, the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers sued Google for copyright infringement. [...]
Posted on: Sep 25, 2009, Section: Legal, Comments: 1 Comment
Kirby heirs may prove to be headache for Disney
Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes of the New York Times Media Decoder blog write about the $4 billion acquisition of Marvel by Disney may become entangled in legal mire as the heirs of Jack Kirby, who created many of the iconic Marvel heroes, have already begun sending notices of copyright termination to Marvel, Disney and [...]
Posted on: Sep 21, 2009, Section: Comic Books, Comic history, Legal, Comments: 2 Comments
Court sides with Paris Hilton in Hallmark fight
At a hearing in California on Monday, three judges at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals gave Paris Hilton the OK to pursue her case against Hallmark, rejecting the company’s claims the cartoon on a greeting card was of a generic woman and not Hilton. The card showed Hilton’s face superimposed on a cartoon of [...]
Posted on: Sep 1, 2009, Section: Greeting Cards, Legal, Comments: 4 Comments
Beatty deposition battle in Dick Tracy case
Last March I posted news that actor Warren Beatty and Tribune Media Services were in a legal scrap over the movie rights of the Dick Tracy character. Beatty had the rights and made the 1990 Dick Tracy movie in which he starred, however TMS says that the rights were lost after a decade. The latest [...]
Posted on: Jul 29, 2009, Section: Legal, Comments: 9 Comments
“Sita Sings the Blues” released with Creative Commons license
Nina Paley, creator of the short lived comic strip (King Features Syndicate, 2002-2003) Sita Sings the Blues is releasing her comic under the Creative Commons license. Under the Share Alike license, she is allowing others to distribute her work (and derivative works) as long as the work produced is also distributed under the same license. [...]
Posted on: Jul 23, 2009, Section: Comic strips, Legal, Comments: 5 Comments
