As you may know, as every discussion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe acknowledges, 20th Century Fox owns the filmic licensing rights to Marvel’s X-Men. These rights extend somewhat murkily.
DC v RiRi: Battle for Robyn
Did you know that Rihanna’s real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty? The pop star’s company, Roraj Trade, filed documents last June to trademark a bunch of names which included her first and last: Fenty Apparel, Fenty Beauty, Fenty Clothing, Fenty Cosmetics, Fenty Face, Fenty Intimates, Fenty Lingerie, Fenty Makeup, Fenty Nails, Fenty Swim, Fenty Swimwear, Boomflick, Fenty…
How Not to Run a Comic Site: Comikka’s Problems with Permission and Attribution
The 21st century has provided writers, artists, and other creators with a multitude of platforms for sharing their work. Unfortunately, the systems that have made it easier for creators to share their work also make it easier for other people to abuse it. While copyright infringement is not always a case of outright plagiarism, it is important to be…
Rebecca Mock On Artist’s Rights and Diplo Offering “Credit”
Back in February, Diplo used an original GIF by illustrator Rebecca Mock as background art in promoting his music. Staff writer Jo Fu wrote about the incident and his misogynistic response to the fallout. Here, she speaks with Mock about how artists can protect themselves and their work.
CW’s The Flash & Due Process: Do Supervillains Have The Right To An Attorney?
CW’s The Flash is one of the most popular debuts of the 2014-2015 television season, which owes a lot to the fact that it’s a DC superhero property that’s unabashedly fun and self-aware. Of course, it would be. You have villains like Captain Cold, Rainbow Raider, and Pied Piper up against a superhero dressed in…
Happy Public Domain Day! (except you, United States)
Happy Public Domain Day! Today’s the day when people around the globe cheer for creative works that are now eligible to be freely used for any purpose… except in the United States. January 1st marks the expiration of copyright protection terms for creative works, usually the creator’s death plus a certain number of years, thus allowing…
Britain, Books, Politics: Shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan Said “The Ban on Sending Books to Prisoners Was Always an Absurd Policy”
If you had to hide drugs, would you hide them in a book? I wouldn’t. And if I was relying on drugs as either a balm or a currency during time spent in prison, would you say “well the exact thing she doesn’t need in her life is books?” No! Because you aren’t a bonehead….
Over $70,000 raised for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) and Diamond Comics Distributors is happy to announce to this year’s membership and fundraising drive resulted in over 44o comic book specialty shops joining or renewing their memberships, raising over $70,000 to the cause. According to the Diamond’s press release, “Since the Retailer Membership program was launched in 2009, the number of…
The “Death” of America’s Saturday Morning Cartoons
Greetings WWAC readers, please welcome guest author Meredith Guthrie. Meredith is a media scholar at the University of Pittsburgh where she studies children’s media, fandom, advertising, body image, and digital media. You can follow her on Twitter @Meredithea. First, a note: Although a lot of ink was spilled a couple of weeks ago about the death…
Update on Ellora’s Cave v Dear Author Lawsuit
Not long ago, I wrote about the lawsuit that digital romance publisher, Ellora’s Cave (EC), filed against Dear Author and it’s founder, Jane Litte, for the post, The Curious Case of Ellora’s Cave, that discussed EC’s finances and dealings with its authors. In my piece, I discussed exactly what Ellora’s Cave accused Dear Author & Jane Litte for,…
Ellora’s Cave Sues Dear Author: What This Could Mean For Criticism In The Book Industry
The book industry has been interesting these past few days. On Sunday, September 26th, Dear Author tweeted that digital romance publisher, Ellora’s Cave, had filed a lawsuit against her: