The public domain status of the Charlton characters and more
Every bit of research I have done on the public domain status of the pre DC Charlton characters such as Captain Atom and Blue Beetle has yielded the response "probably not."
And while I agree, I'm curious about the why and how. I'm no expert on copyright law and mind you, I have no plans whatsoever to make a comic or story featuring DC characters, but I found this quote interesting:
[quote]Not a GA company but a mystery that was uncovered. In researching Blue Beetle renewals for Fox, the only copyright cards unearthed from 1955-1971 was for a song by the name of the Blue Beetle. At first the significance didn't hit me as I wasn't really expecting to see a renewal card for the Fox property. However, there should have been a few for the Charlton different titles and versions (4 different Blue Beetle titles) of the character. Not even a cross reference card. I looked under Charlton. Nothing for any of their titles. "Captain Atom" likewise turned up nothing. Were none of the titles registered? Or was there a different company name that they were filed under and no cross-reference cards were made under their main company name and individual titles? Nor is there any record of DC (or anybody else) renewing copyrights to the late 1950s and early 60s Charlton Material although titles post 1964 should be eligible for automatic renewal. Wrap your head around that one. This means that Captain Atom, the Question, Blue Beetle (whether he's the scarab powered Dan Garrett or the techno hero Ted Kord), ... may all be public domain. Or may not. One source indicates that 1964 as the starting point of when works would automatically be copyrighted if the work contains proper mark and notation without having to formally register with the Library of Congress. However, reading through the copyright law at the Library of Congress web pages, I cannot find proper notation to that effect. In the history and important dates section, there is no mention of important legislation at that time concerning copyright registration. However, re-reading various aspects of copyright law, it does seem that automatic protection to "published" works with proper notation may have been part of copyright law at least since 1909! A work would have to have been properly registered at some point during its first 28 years to have been renewed though. So, rule of thumb: Dan Garret Blue Beetle, yellow and orange/red Captain Atom are pd, the Dan Garrett and Ted Kord Blue Beetle, red and blue and silver Captain Atom are not. Least not til more research can be done.
Nor is there any renewal information concerning their first BLUE BEETLE series (1955), SPACE ADVENTURES (1954/55 #13 & 14 with the Blue Beetle; 1958 #33, debut of Captain Atom), NATURE BOY, and MISTER MUSCLES.[/quote]
[url]https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/839503[/url]
So if this is true-- can it seriously be assumed that someone could use DG BB and the original Allen Adam in their story without any legal response from DC? How exactly does this work and how can one find this out definitively? I understand that "it's DC, you don't want to do it either way" but I'm interested in discussing it regardless.
There are several "fan made" publications out there of old Charlton, Fawcett, and Quality comics, including some old Captain Marvel stories! And I even read somewhere that the original version of Captain Marvel [I]is[/I] public domain, but he can't be called Captain Marvel or Billy Batson or look like him, and can't be on the cover, and his character has to be based on the character in the specific issues that are public domain and not anything else. So if it's true, then CM jr would also be PD.
Does anyone (with or without knowledge of copyright law) have any insight into this mystery?