Print

[udgang99]

Hello,

I just found this great site yesterday, and I'm already loving all the old comics.

I have a question about the copyrights of public domain - which I guess there are none, actually.
Anyways, I do comicbooks every now and then, and I was wondering if there are any rules as to using the creative parts of public domain comics? Like, can I take the story from one comic, and use it word by word in my own comic, with my own art? And can I use the pictures and apply my own text? And can I collect it, print it, and make money of it?

Is it correct when I  assume that a person can take the comics that is in the public domain and redistribute them for a profit, without asking anyone for permission ...

Now, these comics are all american, and american law applies. I am from a pretty little place in Europe ... can I still use these comics? Do the rules of american PD apply in Europe?!?

[Menticide]

The first thing you need to do is make sure that what you are looking to use is definitely public domain. Some stories maybe PD, but some characters might not be, Plastic Man, the Spirit, and Gene Autry are all good examples.

As a writer, I try to look for characters that are completely PD, study everything that we can possibly know about them, and then look for a new story to tell about them. In many cases, I like to reveal some new revelation about the character, and apply it to the pre-existing material. In that sense, I've now tweaked a dozen classic characters or so in different stories that I have written.

There are a number of different ways to find out just how PD a character is, most of the information can be found online, and trust me, it doesn't take a lot of effort to find this info out.

My only real question to you is this, why try to copy something pre-existing? Why not take a PD character and write something new featuring them?

[udgang99]

Well, lets call it a "conceptual art project" ... like the "lost and found-art", or the way that old movies are being remade these days. Normally I do write and draw my own stuff - this was just an idea that came to me, while reading up on the whole public domain-idea.

[Menticide]

Okay, I can understand that idea, and although I certainly would never discourage anyone in their art, I would suggest taking something very obscure if you are going to try to do what you are suggesting.

In other words, look for a back story, something that only ran for a few issues at best, and no one beyond this circle of geeks (hey, I'm proud to be) knows of...

My suggestion, be careful, and try to be original. The more original you are, the safer you are...

Stick to something obscure, that's the safest choice...

[udgang99]

Thank you for taking the time to write, Menticide! :-)

I would take something very obscure, but not for the sake of playing it safe, but because that would be the most fun for me to do. But I just want to make one thing very clear, which also is what this question is all about; I wont do it if it's illegal!!! Soooo ... is it legal?! ;-)  Like, lets say I took a sort story from Ace' "Space Action" (which only ran for 4 issues in 1954)?!?

[narfstar]

It seems you are not going for super hereoes. X-Venture has some obscure sci-fi, etc. Camera Comics has some good adventure

[udgang99]

I just found this on Wikipedia, which I guess means anyone can do whatever they want with material in PD:

The public domain and derivative works

Derivative works include translations, musical arrangements and dramatizations of a work, as well as other forms of transformation or adaptation.[12] Copyrighted works may not be used for derivative works without permission from the copyright owner,[13] while public domain works can be freely used for derivative works without permission.[14][15] Artworks that are public domain may also be reproduced photographically or artistically or used as the basis of new, interpretive works.[16] Once works enter into the public domain, derivative works such as adaptations in book and film may increase noticeably, as happened with Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel The Secret Garden, which became public domain in 1987.[17] As of 1999, the plays of Shakespeare, all public domain, had been used in more than 420 feature-length films.[18] In addition to straightforward adaptation, they have been used as the launching point for transformative retellings such as Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Troma Entertainment's Tromeo and Juliet.[19][20][21] Marcel Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q. is a derivative of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, one of thousands of derivative works based on the public domain painting.[14]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain

[Roygbiv666]

The first step is to not just accept what strangers on the Internet tell you - consult with an intellectual property lawyer first to confirm what you want to use is, in fact, in the public domain. If something is in the public domain, you can do as you please with it. ;-)

[Fabio]

That

[narfstar]

No one that I know off would get offended by a request. Some are like me and do not keep them. Others keep high quality scans of everything that they scan. So ask away.