SO....IDW is publishing ORIGINAL Marvel Kids stories....

[Kintor]

There is nothing unethical about allowing the copyright to expire and using works that fall into the public domain. Dinsey has done quite well using works in the public domain including Snow White, Pinocheo, Mary Poppins.

What is screwed is that they won't let Mickey Mouse fall into the public domain after nearly 100 years.

I understand where you're coming from but I'm actually arguing from the opposite perspective. In modern society it's possible for an IP to continue to be worked upon after the death of the original creator, if you can even find a sole creator amongst works produced within a corporation. The law, across nations, needed to be updated to accommodate the new realty of IP creation.

In regards to Disney, I'd simply like the same level of fairness given to Mickey Mouse applied to the older IPs that Disney has exploited. In the case of Peter Pan, a clear rights holder does exist in the United Kingdom and they deserve the same 100 year compensation that Disney has arranged for themselves. It's all about fairness, just perhaps not in the way that you intend.

[U.N. Owen]

I'm just a bit annoyed that they're doing Avengers stuff. Sure, I like the Avengers, but I'd like IDW to make book about lesser known heroes like Shang-Chi, Power Pack, and Kid Kaiju.

[mrbrklyn]

Lennon, however, derailed negotiations with the consortium. He announced in a board meeting that he wasn't prepared to be "fucked around by men in suits sitting on their fat arses in the city". The men in suits took umbrage and walked away from negotiations with The Beatles.

Which was, you know, that was cool – somebody had to get it, I suppose. What happened actually was then I started to ring him up. I thought, here's the guy historically placed to give Lennon–McCartney a good deal at last, 'cos we got signed when we were 21 or something in a back alley in Liverpool. And the deal, it's remained the same, even though we made this company the most famous – hugely successful. So I kept thinking, it was time for a raise ... I did talk to him about it, but he kind of blanked me on it. He kept saying, 'That's just business, Paul.' You know. So, I thought, 'Yeah, it is,' and waited for a reply, but we never kind of got to it ... It was no big bust-up. We kind of drifted apart after that".[1]

beatles quotes

[mrbrklyn]

I understand where you're coming from but I'm actually arguing from the opposite perspective.

Yeah, I understand that and we've been intently in the copyright wars for nearly 30 years now and public keeps getting more and more screwed. And everyone who owns and uses a "cellphone" has been jerked around and criminalized, stripped of a vast amount of your individual rights in the "modern world" because of copyright. I know what I am talking about here. God knows I've testified about it enough times in congressional hearings.

The concept that works of arts and sciences can be or should be locked up by copyright law enforced by software control and the tracking of individuals is absolutely immoral and wrong. It has put us in the direct path of soceity that looks like George Orwells 1984 and the best part is that the kids today don't even know what it is like to not be tracked and spied on (all in the name of copyright).

I'm sorry, but the entire creative works of the 20th century, including all the history, news articles, photography, should not be suffering under copyright for any reason. It stiffles communication, promotes manipulation of the educational system, and bankrupts the poor and prevents their participating in culture, and government.

That Orphanage that you cry about, I couldn't care less about it. Donate money to them if you care.

But the copyright control of information, entertainment, education and human communication is a serious problem that threatens our very existance as a society.

[mrbrklyn]

In regards to Disney, I'd simply like the same level of fairness given to Mickey Mouse applied to the older IPs that Disney has exploited. In the case of Peter Pan, a clear rights holder does exist in the United Kingdom and they deserve the same 100 year compensation that Disney has arranged for themselves. It's all about fairness, just perhaps not in the way that you intend.

The solution to that is to stop copyright abuse and restrict it to something reasonable like 30 years.

[Kintor]

Yeah, I understand that and we've been intently in the copyright wars for nearly 30 years now and public keeps getting more and more screwed. And everyone who owns and uses a "cellphone" has been jerked around and criminalized, stripped of a vast amount of your individual rights in the "modern world" because of copyright. I know what I am talking about here. God knows I've testified about it enough times in congressional hearings.

The concept that works of arts and sciences can be or should be locked up by copyright law enforced by software control and the tracking of individuals is absolutely immoral and wrong. It has put us in the direct path of soceity that looks like George Orwells 1984 and the best part is that the kids today don't even know what it is like to not be tracked and spied on (all in the name of copyright).

I'm sorry, but the entire creative works of the 20th century, including all the history, news articles, photography, should not be suffering under copyright for any reason. It stiffles communication, promotes manipulation of the educational system, and bankrupts the poor and prevents their participating in culture, and government.

That Orphanage that you cry about, I couldn't care less about it. Donate money to them if you care.

But the copyright control of information, entertainment, education and human communication is a serious problem that threatens our very existance as a society.

Ah well, it seems that I've greatly underestimated your level of knowledge on the subject and your passion about ending copyright. I do think that we should at least be able to find common ground over Disney and their over-reach of corporate power. Although, and I'm sure you've heard this refrain before, I prefer a more pragmatic approach. Disney and the other interested parties are not going to give-up on copyright extensions; yet by extending the same copyright laws to the public domain you can still short-circuit the core of Disney's business model.

[mrbrklyn]

You might want to get your head out of your echo chamber; the only movie based on a Marvel IP that Disney has made in the years since the sale is Big Hero 6 (and it was completely divorced from Marvel my request of Marvel itself).

FWIW, there is no more Marvel IP. Marvel is owned, lock stock and barrel, by Disney. It might say Marvel ® - but it is owned by Disney

[mrbrklyn]

Disney and the other interested parties are not going to give-up on copyright extensions; yet by extending the same copyright laws to the public domain you can still short-circuit the core of Disney's business model.

While I am no fan of Disney's abuse of copyright, one doesn't cut off their nose to spite their face. What your suggesting here is that you steal from the public in order to punish Disney. Why should the public not have access to Kiplernger's Jungle Book, and Washington Irving's "Stories of the Ahambra", because Disney might make movies about them? The solution to corperate overeach is not to allow further over reach buy reducing copyright to 30 years and ending the DMCA and making DRM illegal.

https://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/

[Prof. Warren]

FWIW, there is no more Marvel IP. Marvel is owned, lock stock and barrel, by Disney. It might say Marvel ® - but it is owned by Disney

I love it when fans take the time to point this out, as though it's some shocker.

Are they also running around alerting people to the fact that there is no DC IP anymore because they're owned by Warners?

Also, when was the last time that Marvel was not owned by a larger company? The late '60s? It's not as though they were independent up until the sale to Disney.

Over the years, they've been owned by Candence Industries, New World Entertainment, Toy Biz, and I believe a cosmetics company for a time, too.

[MarvelMaster616]

The next step towards closing down Marvel's publishing operation: farm out the books.

This worries me too. I fear this could be the ultimate endgame for comics. We've all seen the sales figures. To say they're not what they used to be would be a gross understatement. Print media, in general, has been declining for years. Comic shops, in general, have been in decline as well. The old model of distributing comics just doesn't work anymore. There's still a market for it, but it's not the same market. These days, the money is in the movies, TV shows, and merchandise. Comics just don't turn that big a profit in the grand scheme of things and, given Disney's love of profit, that's not going to help the publishing side of things. I think it's very likely that at some point, but probably not in the near future, that Disney and Marvel just opt to license the comic publishing rights to other parties, just like they did with the movie rights in the 90s. It's hard to say whether that will be the death of the Marvel comics universe as we know it, but it's disturbingly possible.

[Prof. Warren]

This worries me too. I fear this could be the ultimate endgame for comics. We've all seen the sales figures. To say they're not what they used to be would be a gross understatement. Print media, in general, has been declining for years. Comic shops, in general, have been in decline as well. The old model of distributing comics just doesn't work anymore. There's still a market for it, but it's not the same market. These days, the money is in the movies, TV shows, and merchandise. Comics just don't turn that big a profit in the grand scheme of things and, given Disney's love of profit, that's not going to help the publishing side of things. I think it's very likely that at some point, but probably not in the near future, that Disney and Marvel just opt to license the comic publishing rights to other parties, just like they did with the movie rights in the 90s. It's hard to say whether that will be the death of the Marvel comics universe as we know it, but it's disturbingly possible.

The things that fans waste their time worrying about.

The "death of comics" has been foretold for as many years as I've been reading comics, which is quite awhile.

And yet comics are still here.

Also "we've all seen the sales figures" - no, we really haven't. We have a extremely limited understanding of what comics actually sell. I wish fans would stop trying to determine the health of the industry based on incomplete and often erroneous data.

Just read the books and enjoy them, for however long it all lasts. Will comics eventually go away? I don't know, possibly.

No matter what, the universe will surely perish in heat death one day so absolutely everything, comics included, is only here temporarily.

[mrbrklyn]

This worries me too. I fear this could be the ultimate endgame for comics.

not yet. Aside from that, see the Walmart success