Print

[happyhuman]

1) After reading this article at Newsarama there were something I couldn't understant: what is going to happend to Superman in 2013? does the rights go stright to the families? or stright to public domain?

and if the rights fall into public domain what actually fall's? just the original pitch for the character? just the story and elements from Action Comics #1? or all things that are Superman?

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/070909-Siegel-Superman.html#comments

2) If Marvel owns the TM for Daredevil how can Image use the name for their version of Lev's Daredevil? acorrding to wiki other compenies chaged the name of the character to reddevil, doubledare and the death defying devil, whats diffrent for Image?

3) If DC owns the Quality and Charlton characters how can they be in the public domain?

4) If a Comic/book/art piece is in the public domain does it mean that anyone can reproduse it and sell it? if yes then does that mean that for example 10 diffrent guys can sell the original Blue Beetle comics at the same time?!

5) How can the Original Blue Beetle can be in the Public Domain if a) DC payed for its rights? b) the charater was published since DC got the rights from Fox?


Thank in advance for any help with this matter

[Ed Love]

1) The way I understand it is it's just from the first issue, the character as brought to DC and they would share the trademark. It would be sorta like them getting the rights to the Earth-2 Superman although it would be minus flying, super-senses, Jimmy Olsen, Daily Planet, kryptonite, etc. The costume would be distinctively different such as the S-Shield and his boots. What I'm unsure is if this means DC would owe some kind of royalties to the families every Superman comic they publish as every usage of the character would be based on that first issue.

2) The reason for the name change, if the GA character took off and warranted his own book, it couldn't be titled Daredevil as Marvel has that TM locked up. By changing the name, it allows him to be featured in his own books with his new name. Image/Larsen chose not to change the name which is within his right. But, it means he cannot use the name as part of a title or selling underoos or what have you.

3, 4, 5) DC owns the trademarks ie the rights titling books by those names, marketing the characters' images and names on lunchboxes, etc. But, they don't own the copyrights which means anyone can reprint the original stories and create derivative works as long as it doesn't violate their trademarks. So, conceivably, I could publish a book called BIG THREE (old Fox title), put the GA Blue Beetle on the cover as long as I don't bother to name him on the cover AND have individual stories inside of each of the 3 Blue Beetles prior to DC's take.

[happyhuman]

Thanks for the answers. If its ok I have a couple more,

A) I read that the original Blue Beetle got his suit and vitamin 2X from some sort of Professor - in what issue did this happaned? (meaning, is there an origin story of the original Blue Beetle?)

B)Do anyone knows how can one chack if a comic or comic book characters is in the Public Domain in his country? I dont live in the US so I'm not sure if a work thats PD there is PD in my country (even duo I'm sure its wasn't publish or distribut in my country)?

[crimsoncrusader]

Go read Blue Beetle's page at public domain super heroes wiki to answer your first question and as for your second question we need to know which country you want to know copyright law about.

[Ed Love]

I recently discovered the Mystery Men Comics where Blue Beetle debuted here and was reading his earliest appearances. What's telling is that his back story evolves over time. He originally seemed to bit of a gadgeteer (he invented and carried a small cordless telephone), hid out at a different pharmacist's place, wore a different costume and no evident super-powers. Over time they seemed to be settling into place but after about a half dozen issues in, still no origin. More reading is going to be required. HOWEVER, an origin is given to him in the first episode of his radio show: he's shot on duty and is secretly given the vitamin to help him recover and gain extra-vitality and that along with a bullet-proof chainmail suit is able to face the gangsters who have no fear of the police. It's interesting that in the radio show he knows up front that the suit is bulletproof, he seems pleasantly surprised when it proves to be the case in one of the early comics.

[John C]

The best survey for the Beetle's humble origins is probably Blue Beetle #1.  It starts with a (new?) origin story for him, then reprints each of the Mystery Men stories to date.  Then reprints the Yarko stories to date, because nobody told the editor they only had thirty-two pages of Beetley goodness until it was too late, I guess.

I don't recall how much of it is the origin that we all (somehow) know--not much, I belive--but it does show everything off nicely.

[John C]

Missed this.

1) The way I understand it is it's just from the first issue, the character as brought to DC and they would share the trademark. It would be sorta like them getting the rights to the Earth-2 Superman

I seem to recall reading that (a) the suit was only to reclaim the copyright on Action Comics #1, for some reason (because the strip-version was more extensive than those few pages, I mean), and (b) DC does owe them royalties from the reclamation point (1998?) on U.S. sales of Superman titles.

As far as I know, though, the Siegels do not have the rights to the trademark at all, because its global recognition is purely Warner's work.

Something important to consider is that Joe Shuster's nephew and remaining heir started the process to reclaim the other half of Superman's first appearance.  So expect to see another spat of articles in a few years and for DC to own even less of the property.

[happyhuman]

Go read Blue Beetle's page at public domain super heroes wiki to answer your first question and as for your second question we need to know which country you want to know copyright law about.

I did, and there's nothing about in what issue his origin was told. I do chack thing's before I ask a queastion about them.

and I'm originaly from the UK but for now I live in Israel

[Yoc]

There is a fair amount online about Blue Beetle HH.
Modern overview - http://tinyurl.com/kpp3za
Old Time Radio show MP3s on Archive.org - http://tinyurl.com/n66j96
A site devoted to the GA BB - http://tinyurl.com/nj59cy

Not sure if any will nail down his origin for you though.

Enjoy,
-Yoc

[darkmark]

BB's origin was presented in BLUE BEETLE #1.  It was an all-new story and made no mention or depiction of his earliest, "Green Hornet" days.  The reality is, BB was originally intended to be a knock-off of radio's Green Hornet and, after Superman turned up, Fox turned him into a super-powered hero.

[happyhuman]

Thank's Yoc and Darkmark,

For some reason I stared to like the original Blue Beetle character and wanted to read the issue he got his suit and 2x vitamins but I guess theres no such issue, too bad : (

by the way... just my curiosity but I've seen that you consider the Atomic Mouse/Cat/Ect... public domain but are only those comics in PD and not the charaters themself? (a'la Captain Marvel?) of do the characters are public domain as well?

[crimsoncrusader]

http://www.tau.ac.il/law/members/birnhack/IsraeliCopyrightAct2007.pdf

This may help with Israel copyright law.

[John C]

by the way... just my curiosity but I've seen that you consider the Atomic Mouse/Cat/Ect... public domain but are only those comics in PD and not the charaters themself? (a'la Captain Marvel?) of do the characters are public domain as well?

There isn't really a legal concept of a "character," so there isn't a good answer.  But if you use someone else's character, then you're creating a work derived from where the character appeared.

As long as you only "derive from" sources that aren't under copyright (or themselves derive from a protected source), you should probably be fine.  Well, as long as you don't violate any trademarks along the way.

So, for example, even Superman is "in the public domain," as long as you only derive from material that originates in the Fleischer cartoons.  However, most of the background material comes directly from the comics of the day, so the parts available are severely limited.

[dhfh]

Thank's Yoc and Darkmark,

For some reason I stared to like the original Blue Beetle character and wanted to read the issue he got his suit and 2x vitamins but I guess theres no such issue, too bad : (

Actually HH,

The story where he's first given 2X by Dr. Franz  appears as the 4th story in Blue Beetle #5 (which we only had in an almost unreadable copy here until just recently, so you're in luck  .  Although several stories--including the first three in this issue--already show him using 2X prior to this, this is the tale in which the super vitamin is introduced...chronological order was often not a big consideration for publishers in the Golden Days, for one reason or another.

There doesn't seem to be an issue anywhere that introduces his armor in a similar way, however.  As you can see with the costume he wears in Mystery Men #2 & #3--the costume with the antennae--though it's close to the costume he wears for most of his GA career, and is  drawn with a texture as if to indicate scales or chain armor, no such mention is made in the text and it's not shown to be bullet-proof.  Then in MM #4, he's suddenly wearing the full-blown Blue Beetle costume we're most familiar with, chain armor texturing clearly visible, but still no mention made about it or it's being bullet-proof.  Then in MM #5, in the 3rd pannel of the 4th page of the story ("A Trap for the Blue Beetle" archived at http://goldenagecomics.co.uk/index.php?dlid=7472 ), the text says that the Beetle's "mail costume dulls the blow" delt him by Mannigan.  This looks like the first time his costume is actually mentioned as being chain armor in the stories, though right now I'm not certain that there isn't an out-of-sequence story introducing the armor (as with the 2X), but there doesn't appear to be one. 

Hope that helps,

DHFH