Gary Friedrich maintained that he was the creator of the Ghost Rider character and sued Marvel in 2007 over royalties derived from the movies starring Nicolas Cage. In 2012 a lower court ruled in favor of Marvel stating that Gary gave up the rights in 1979. Marvel proceeded to demand Gary pay $17,000 for compensation for drawing the character and selling posters of the character at conventions. But at last, the two sides have reached an amiable agreement to resolve the claims, but unfortunately the terms of the deal were not made public. Hollywoord Reporter has a good write-up on the background of the lawsuit and the positions of both parties.
I’m not sure how Gary Friedrich ‘created’ a character that is a rather obvious variation of another Ghost Rider character Dick Ayers drew nearly twenty years before; but hey, stick it to the Disney Corp., and good to see a comics creator get someting.