But the actual lawsuit is aimed toward the Ghost Rider movie and all the companies affiliated with the movie and related merchandising.

Now Columbia registered a copyright for the Ghost Rider movie. This copyright predates Friedrich’s. The lawsuit argues that these companies knowingly infringed his copyright. This seems unlikely because he hadn’t registered the copyright.

Now I’m using the word “register”.

Marvel registered a copyright for the Ghost Rider character in the late 60s. This is not Friedrich’s character.

For some reason(s) Marvel did not register the Ghost Rider character in ‘72. In ‘78 the GhostRider comic is registered. (Perhaps it was problematic to register two different characters by the same company with the same name.)

I’ve done some further checking. Friedrich is renewing the copyright based on Public Law 102-307. Check this link: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ15.html

“For works copyrighted between January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977, an application for renewal of copyright can be made at any time during the renewed and extended term of 67 years.”

Under the law, the “author” of the work can claim renewal of the work. Friedrich must now prove that he is indeed the sole author of the work: that he brought the character to Marvel, instead of writing a story based on Marvel’s specifications for the character.

As you correctly state in another message, Marvel’s copyright hasn’t expired, it’s just that Friedrich is using this law for renewing the copyright in his name.

Now if Marvel had successfully renewed it the registration would show this. All the ones I’ve seen indicate that they have expired.

Alan, the timing is suspect. My guess is that he wanted Marvel to pay him for the movie. Perhaps they didn’t. So he goes to a lawyer and the lawyer digs this up. Just speculation.

As to my being a lad, that’s funny :)

Just go here
http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

You will see that the copyright which was properly registered by Marvel was automatically renewed for 67 years. There is no debate about it. And the LEAGUE lawsuit was not settled, it was tossed.

And whoever argued that GF should have waited till this time doesn’t understand law at all. The doctrine of minimized damages REQUIRES him to speak up the moment he notices that his rights are being f-ed with. It goes like this- when did you first notice that Marvel claimed copyright against your wishes. Oh I don’t know, 1978? Why didn’t you sue then if you had a case? Bye bye.

In an earlier post I used the word “expired” in 94 and 95. I should have said that these are the last publication dates listed.

I just checked, I see seven records for Ghost Rider issues #1 to #7, the Western version from 1967 (registration numbers RE-684-522, RE-684-540, and so on). And it seems you’re wrong about the copyrights expiring in 1994 and 1995 for these records, from what I can see Marvel *renewed* the copyright on those dates.

Friedrich has claimed (see the 2001 interview quoted at the top) that he created the character by himself.

The copyright lapsed Dec 31, 2001. He registered it Feb 2007. So that’s six years of limbo.

If he really wanted the copyright he could have registered it immediately and then begun to publish Ghost Rider comics.

He did not. As far as I know he hasn’t published any Ghost Rider comics.

I believe that this will damage his case because if he were truly interested in the copyright he would not have waited six years. He would actively be using his copyright.

I’m reading Friedrich’s complaint.

His contention is that he created Ghost Rider prior to allowing Marvel to use the character. He acknowledges that Marve copyrighted the character.

Of course, Marvel allowed it to lapse.

What his complaint doesn’t mention is that Columbia copyrighted the movie before Friedrich registered the lapsed copyright.

Seems to me that the movie should be free and clear.

Now the usage of Ghost Rider in comics is another matter altogether. Seems to me that he could block the use of the name Ghost Rider in comics.

In the case of the Ghost Rider, why shouldn’t people like Dick Ayers, Roy Thomas, and especially Mike Ploog be co-litigants?

Were they asked to be co-litigants and declined, or is Friedrich claiming he created everything about Ghost Rider himself? I think this is an important question.

Based on the dates you mention, that would be the copyright for Marvel’s Western “Ghost Rider” (created in 1966, first appearance cover-dated February 1967), not the Johnny Blaze version.

Under the old copyright law, copyrights had to be renewed 28 years after the original filing. The copyright for the Johnny Blaze version should have been renewed around 2000 (which is why Friedrich claims the copyright reverted to him in 2001).

I think lawyers these days get 40 – 45 percent or even more…

I can see him suing Marvel, but what gives him the right to sue Hasbro et al. *They* dealt with Marvel in good faith, if Marvel screwed him how are they even supposed to know about and why should they be punished for it?

But, by suing as many companies as he can, he’s sweetening the pot for when he gets his settlement. Because that’s what this, and everything like this comes down to. Companies don’t want to fight it because it costs them more money in lawyers fees than it would to pay up, regardless of who is in the right.

The copyright searches cannot be directly linked and so all I can do is point.

This brings us to the registered works database.

A search here yields Ghost Rider with 49 items.

Marvel had copyrights that expired in 1994 and in 1995.

Columbia Pictures registered the Ghost Rider trailer in June 2006. There are other registrations for the trailers and the movie poster.

Feb 16, 2007 Columbia registers the whole cinematic kit and kaboodle.

Feb 26, 2007 Friedrich registers Ghost Rider. This is the Marvel Spotlight comic in ‘72.

Searches can be done at:

http://www.copyright.gov/records/

Columbia registered the movie prior to Friedrich’s registration. Marvel’s registrations are for Ghost Rider and go back to ‘68. Friedrich’s registration is for Marvel Spotlight’s Ghost Rider in ‘72.

However, Marvel did let their registration for Ghost Rider expire. And created a mess.

If successful in court it seems that what could happen is that Friedrich could prevent Marvel from using the Ghost Rider name in future comics.

The merchandising hasn’t been registered either. So presumably he could try to block that as well.

The movie itself is problematic for him as it was registered prior to his complaint.

But in all likelihood he wants to settle and it looks like he could cause Marvel some headaches in the process.

But then again, I am the kind of guy who refuses to buy non-creator owned works.