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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
Animation» Ted Rall and David Essman team up for another editorial animation. Books» Moonbase Press has announced that it has the fourteenth collection of cartoonist Bill Holbrook’s groundbreaking webcomic Kevin & Kell is now available. They’ve also released a treasury edition collection of the early years of cartoonist Bill’s webcomic Kevin & Kell.Comic Strips» Stephan […]
I received an email from one cartoonist who found his work on the social photo and video hosting site Photo Bucket without his permission. It appears a user “lynn5150” has been uploading several cartoons (editorial, syndicated comics, gag cartoons, etc.) from a variety of sources. There is over 50 pages of cartoons and images that […]
Tribune Media Services has filed a lawsuit against actor Warren Beatty to regain the TV and movie rights to the Dick Tracy property. TMS alleges that Beatty “wrongfully claims” executive motion picture and television rights. Beatty purchased the writes in 1985 and released the Dick Tracy movie in 1990 which starred Dustin Hoffman, Madonna and […]
Brian Duffy, recently fired by the Des Moines Register, is considering legal action to retain the rights to his cartoons, which the Register says they will donate to the University of Iowa. Apparently, according to a sketchy report by KCCI-TV, mirrored by E&P, the newspaper considers the cartoons “work for hire,” which would give the […]
The second major paper to file bankruptcy is Minneapolis Star Tribune which made the filing to “reduce our operating costs, restructure our debt and create a financially viable business for the future” according to a report over at E&P. The filing was also a promise made good by the paper after failed negotiations between the […]
The Colombia’s coffee growers federation has opted to drop its $20 million lawsuit against Mother Goose and Grimm creator Mike Peters according to a report on Colombiareports.com. Citing sources within the federation, representatives of the association have met with Mike and have accepted his apology. They’ve also extended an invitation to Mike to travel to […]
At the first of this year, the Popeye character entered into the public domain in Europe. In the US, the copyright is still in play until 2024 because US law protects works for 95 years after the death of the creator instead of the 70 years that Europe observes. That said, King Features still owns […]
Mother Goose and Grimm creator Mike Peters has been sued by the The Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers over a cartoon published last week poking fun at Columbian Crime and Columbian coffee. The federation alleges that Mike’s cartoon “damages the intellectual heritage.” They’re asking for US$20 million. According to Columbiareports.com, Mike has apologized in a […]