Lady Luck: Who currently has the rights to the character?

[MajorHoy]

I'm not sure if anybody may have a definitive answer to this one.

Anyway, if anybody is unfamiliar with the character, she was created back in the early 1940's and (along with Mr. Mystic) was part of what was commonly referred to as the "Spirit Section" comics insert, and I believe Will Eisner was involved in writing some of the early stories.



And, as also happened with The Spirit, her adventures were later printed by Quality Comics.



Some of her stories were later reprinted by various publications in the 1970s and 1980s, including in some of Kitchen Sink's magazine-sized The Spirit issues, which seemed to indicate Eisner still held ownership. But towards the beginning of DC's New 52 (when DC still had licensing rights to The Spirit), it was said that "Lady Luck" would be appearing at some point in Geoff Johns' Justice League. That never happened.

In a DiDio-written issue of The Phantom Stranger, there was a character who appeared dealing cards to some gambling demons and she was referred to as "Lady Luck"

and seemed to have the green hat of the character as well as a green outfit. But she never really did anything more than deal the cards, and when that story was collected in the trade paperback, she was recolored so her hair was no longer blonde and her outfit was no longer green.

Does anybody know / remember if it was said whether Dynamite acquired the licensing to use the character of Lady Luck when they picked up the rights to The Spirit?

[Ishmael]

I thought she was public domain (but I could be wrong about this). I honestly don't know (but she's definitely a great golden age character).

[Tayswift]

I think it was DC, she was announced as a part of JL after flashpoint. But the plans changed, lady luck and green arrow never joined JL.

[Dylan Davison]

DC was going to put her in the Justice League when they first started the new52. Not sure who owns her though. I would believe DC, but I guess it could be in public domain.

I would be interested to see her used in something though.

[MajorHoy]

I think it was DC, she was announced as a part of JL after flashpoint. But the plans changed, lady luck and green arrow never joined JL.

But, again, when DC announced she was going to be in the Justice League, DC still had the rights to Eisner's The Spirit.

The fact that DC no longer has the rights to Eisner's main character, and the fact that the "Lady Luck" that appeared in the issue of Phantom Stranger was totally recolored when they did the tpb collecting that story makes me doubt DC still has the rights to the character unless it would be through public domain.

[Ed Love]

But, again, when DC announced she was going to be in the Justice League, DC still had the rights to Eisner's The Spirit.

The fact that DC no longer has the rights to Eisner's main character, and the fact that the "Lady Luck" that appeared in the issue of Phantom Stranger was totally recolored when they did the tpb collecting that story makes me doubt DC still has the rights to the character unless it would be through public domain.

Technically, she and the other characters of "The Spirit" section should be public domain. While Eisner supposedly had a deal with Busy Arnold in that he retained the rights to the characters, he was still required to renew the copyrights and did not (and Arnold did not renew the rights to the comics that ran Eisner's stories either). While there are probably trademark rights that the Eisner estate holds for the Spirit as the character has pretty much stayed in print via reprints and such every decade, that cannot be said for Lady Luck. Trademarks only cover distinctive likenesses (hard to pull off with the Spirit who is about as generic as they come unless you mimic Eisner's style) and titles and logos. So, the Spirit could be in the Avengers, the Justice League, team up with Lobster Johnson, or Erik Larsen's Freak Force as long as they refrain from using his name on the cover. However, DC's plans on using Lady Luck and if they promoted that in advertising and on covers could be enough to establish a new trademark by DC, or for Eisner's estate if they were feeling generous. But, the clock starts ticking on the character needing to be used and promoted again before falling out of trademark protection again.

[MajorHoy]

Anybody aware of any new Lady Luck appearances since The Phantom Stranger #6 back in 2013?

[shooshoomanjoe]

Digitalcomicmuseum.com has Lady Luck tpbs and The Spirit comics free to download so I guess that means she's in the public domain.

[MajorHoy]

Digitalcomicmuseum.com has Lady Luck tpbs and The Spirit comics free to download so I guess that means she's in the public domain.

Not necessarily. It may just mean the past stories are available, but the use of the characters themselves aren't.

The original Captain Marvel is one where the past stories from Fawcett are available to use, but DC still holds the rights to the character (though not his name) for new material.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Not necessarily. It may just mean the past stories are available, but the use of the characters themselves aren't.

The original Captain Marvel is one where the past stories from Fawcett are available to use, but DC still holds the rights to the character (though not his name) for new material.

Really? I always thought you can make new stories from anyone that's in the public domain. For instance, I thought it was legal to make new stories from the Golden Age Lady Luck but not DC's Lady Luck.

[MajorHoy]

Really? I always thought you can make new stories from anyone that's in the public domain. For instance, I thought it was legal to make new stories from the Golden Age Lady Luck but not DC's Lady Luck.

But again, is it just the older stories that are in the public domain or the character itself?

[shooshoomanjoe]

But again, is it just the older stories that are in the public domain or the character itself?

Both maybe? Blue Beetle was published in Dynamite's Project Super Powers decades after DC bought the rights to the character. Malibu's 1990s Genesis line also published the Click after DC bought the rights in the 80s.

[MajorHoy]

Both maybe? Blue Beetle was published in Dynamite's Project Super Powers decades after DC bought the rights to the character. Malibu's 1990s Genesis line also published the Click after DC bought the rights in the 80s.

Is the "Blue Beetle" used by Dynamite based on the Golden Age version of the character (originally published by Fox Feature Syndicate starting in 1939), and is Dynamite calling their version "Blue Beetle"? Also,if you're thinking the character The Scarab is Blue Beetle, there was also a Golden Age character called "The Scarab".

[scary harpy]

...

In a DiDio-written issue of The Phantom Stranger, there was a character who appeared dealing cards to some gambling demons and she was referred to as "Lady Luck"

and seemed to have the green hat of the character as well as a green outfit. But she never really did anything more than deal the cards, and when that story was collected in the trade paperback, she was recolored so her hair was no longer blonde and her outfit was no longer green.

...

Does anyone have a picture of the recolored Lady Luck from Phantom Stranger trade?

[twiztor]

Not necessarily. It may just mean the past stories are available, but the use of the characters themselves aren't.

The original Captain Marvel is one where the past stories from Fawcett are available to use, but DC still holds the rights to the character (though not his name) for new material.

IF Lady Luck's first/early appearances are a part of the public domain, then the character is PD as well. Now, there may be a trademark on the name, so whoever used her wouldn't be able to advertise her as that, although i'm skeptical if that would hold up either.

the entire legality of Captain Marvel is extremely murky. By all rights, he should be (and probably is) a part of the PD. To oversimplify it, if a character is introduced in a work that is part of PD, then everything introduced therein is PD. Now, that does not mean that anybody could put out a Captain Marvel comic. that name is trademarked. But you could THEORETICALLY publish a story featuring "Captain Marvel" Billy Batson. you just wouldn't be able to advertise or market that, and you couldn't call your book that. You would also be disallowed from using any concepts created in copyrighted works- again an oversimplification, but if DC created something for Cap, you couldn't use it. There may be dozens of things: costume designs, superpowers, side characters, etc. that would still be copyrighted, and you would basically have to avoid using ANY of that. It would be tremendously difficult to prove that you only used elements from the PD works and not anything from copyrighted works. The real biggest hurdle is that DC would sue/threaten to sue. The real point isn't who would win the lawsuit, but is just to make it prohibitive for someone to wind up in a prolonged legal battle. DC has way deeper pockets than you, and has a bigger financial stake in the outcome than you.

the whole situation is similar to Steamboat Willie. is that cartoon in the public domain? Officially, no. But there were misplaced copyrights originally, so legally the answer may be yes. But we'll never know because Disney wouldn't let something like that make it to court.
It's also similar to the works of Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes is definitely in the public domain. But its former copyright owners still, to this day, threaten legal trouble when the character is used. In many cases, paying a fee to the Conan Doyle estate is just easier than the legal headache.