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The controversy over nonpayment of royalties to Alan Dean Foster following the assignment of his book contract to Disney, a third party, raises important issues re all IP contracts, including comics creators’. (by #jefftrexler)
1st, disclaimers: This thread is my opinion, not CBLDF’s. It’s not legal advice, & explanation is *not* endorsement. Same with hashtags - I’m including #disneymustpay here as a reference, not as a legal conclusion...
I haven’t read the contracts involved, though I did read ADF’s open letter and watched the press conference.
Continuing this week's look at the Supreme Court, comics & cartoons, here's the ruling mentioning @cbldf: Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association. SCOTUS: California law regulating video game violence did not survive First Amendment strict scrutiny. supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf… 
What's an amicus brief? Amicus curiae is Latin for "friend of the court." An amicus brief (amici = plural) provides info or arguments from someone who is not a party to the dispute. Here's the @CBLDF amicus brief in Brown v. EMA: sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/upl…
By the time of the Court's ruling the Governor of California was Jerry Brown, but when @cbldf submitted its amicus the gov was someone known worldwide for his efforts to curb visual representations of violence: Arnold Schwarzenegger (cartoon by MAD's Mort Drucker)
Speaking of Marvel and SCOTUS, here's a case that did get argued before the Court & resulted in a ruling: Kimble v. Marvel, over an inventor's rights in the patent used in toy Spider-Man web shooters! (by #jefftrexler)
Kimble v. Marvel was a battle between contract rights and patent rights. The patent had expired - existing precedent established that royalty clauses are not enforceable for sales after a patent expires, but Kimble wanted this overruled.
The Court ruled in favor of upholding precedent, which meant that Kimble would no longer be paid royalties on the device. What made more news than the result, though, was the opening of Justice Kagan's final paragraph with a familiar quote.
What was late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's role in the Jack Kirby family settlement with Marvel over character copyrights? Supreme Court procedure may be arcane at times, but the smallest moves by a Justice can have a major impact. #rbg #RIPRBG #scotus
The Kirby case involved the right to terminate transfers of copyright, which enables creators to reclaim material decades after selling it. Lower courts agreed w/ Marvel that Kirby’s material was work made for hire, which meant it was never owned by Kirby & couldn't be reclaimed.
Because the case was being appealed from the Second Circuit, covering New York, it fell under RBG’s purview - Justices manage cases based on the appellate courts to which they are assigned. ...
