jms- B5 Copyright Ownership

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: "Leo W." <leoaw at worldnet.att.net>
Date: 19 Sep 1999 16:01:38 -0600
Lines: 33

Joe,
I was reading on Wizard's discussion forum website that there is some
contention by the late Jerry Siegel's family that they own 50% of Superman.
It has something to do with the renewal of copyright laws and the contract
that Siegel and Schuster signed (I'm no legal wizard, so some of it
perplexes me.)  But I was wondering if you were aware of this and if any of
it could relate to ownership of the B5 universe.  Though as I understand the
story as written, the loophole that Siegel's family is using has to do with
the law supporting creators who sign contracts early in their career.  The
part of the story I thought might apply to you at some point is Siegel's
family can contest ownership because they did not create Superman as work
for hire.  He was created independently from a company and then sold to that
company.  Similar to how B5 came to be.  That's why the article states that
Stan Lee wouldn't have ownership potential for the Fantastic Four,
Spider-Man, etc. because he was hired by Timely/Marvel to create those
characters.

Below should be the link to the article.  It's the one by "Silent_Bri" on
9/2/99 that gives most of the info.  If the link doesn't work properly, goto
WWW.WIZARDWORLD.COM and select the link to their message boards.  It's under
"DC COMICS TALK" and "SUPERMAN'S WORLD".

http://www.wizardworld.com/ubboard/Forum50/HTML/000001.html


Leo
--

The poster formerly known as "MacboyLeo at aol.com"
                 This post may be reposted




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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 19 Sep 1999 16:07:50 -0600
Lines: 11

No, it's of no aid to me; WB owns B5 lock, stock and barrel.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com




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