3 Count: Settled Ghosts

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1: Marvel, Writer Agree to Settle Ghost Rider Copyright Suit

First off today, Bernard Vaughan at Reuter reports that Marvel Comics have settled their lawsuit with their former freelancer Gary Friedrich over the popular character Ghost Rider.

Friedrich had sued Marvel claiming he owned the character since he was not a Marvel employee when he created the character. Thus, according to him, he was entitled to much of the profits earned from the character, including from the two movies. Marvel, however, claimed Ghost Writer was a collaboration and Friedrich only contributed some to the character.

The case was initially dismissed but the Appeals Court revived it recently, sending it back to the lower court. The two sides did not disclose the terms of their settlement, only saying that the settlement amicably resolves the dispute between all parties.

2: Moneyweb to Sue Fin24 for Alleged Plagiarism

Next up today, The Mail & Guardian reports that, in South Africa, business news site Moneyweb is suing rival Media24 over their Fin24 product, which Moneyweb claims plagiarizes work and reporting from them and passes it off as their own.

Moneyweb claims Fin24 takes content created by them and rewrites it before posting it on their site without attribution. Moneyweb is seeking damages, an interdict to prohibit Fin24 from using Moneyweb content and legal costs.

Fin24 claims that this type of aggregation is very common online and not infringing. An editor at the company had refused to remove content when asked by Moneyweb, arguing that the content was not unlawful.

3: Producer Can’t Sue Over Germany TV Airing of Horror Films in New York

Finally today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that Troma entertainment, known for its low-budget horror films, has had a copyright case it filed dismissed due to jurisdictional concerns.

According to Troma, they worked with a person named Lance Robbins to try and strike a deal with a German distributor for some of their films. However, Robbins is alleged to have conspired with King Brett Lauter to license Troma content but then pocket the licensing fee. Troma filed a lawsuit in New York after it learned its movies were being shown on German TV after Robbins’ window to negotiate a deal had expired.

The judge, however, dismissed the lawsuit saying that New York was not the proper distribution. The Pair are alleged to have concocted the scheme in Los Angeles and executed it in Germany but have no clear ties to New York, causing the suit to be dismissed.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.

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