Copyright protection for fictional characters wikipedia. Top rated lists for elderfingolfin 143 items greek mythology in comics 197 items best public domain characters 118 items superman and his clones and parodies. Fan art is a drawing based on a character, costume, or location that is made. As others have said, you cant titles, characters, or powers. Thus a drawing, picture, depiction, or written description of a character can be registered for. However, the owners of the cannot claim authorship on all superhuman characters. Dc is home to the worlds greatest super heroes, including superman, batman, wonder woman, green lantern, the flash, aquaman and more. You could then claim trademark by use of the tm symbol. Both are her original creations as is the comic strip itself. The statements and opinions are the expression of author, not legalzoom, and have not been evaluated by legalzoom for accuracy, completeness, or changes in the law. A title and the names and likenesses of characters can be trademarked.
When you flip through a comic book, youre looking at a medium that has existed for less than a century. Many of these are based on a fictional character which was originally created as part of a graphic work like a comic book. With each passing day, the list of comic book characters slated to be adapted to the big screen grows ever larger. It is comic book movies policy, in appropriate circumstances. Copyrighted cartoon characters enjoy maximum protection under the law. In the comic books, of course, the batmobile is a twodimensional picture, not a functioning vehicle. Comic books, strips and graphic novels are among the works of authorship that. The plaintiff, leslie klinger, is a sherlock holmes scholar who seeks to publish a book of stories by contemporary authors placing holmes, watson, and other characters created by arthur conan. If i paint an original picture of a cartoon or comic book character can i sell the painting without violating. Using a trademarked name absolutely will get you sued, and you will not win. Characters and copyright protection ip legal corner. They may be trademarked but only if the literary workmovieor a related product were named after the character.
Ianal disclaimer but generally character names themselves cannot be ed. During this time, marvel was using lees characters and story lines to produce highly successful films and related merchandise. For characters, the character only becomes protected under law once it becomes a unique expression, i. The laws concerning trademark are much more stringent than.
For example, courts have found that superman is able. Is the comic book character copyright infringement saga. The copyright office only accepts full and complete works. Cartoons and comic strips are among the types of works of authorship protected by. Subsequently, the delhi high court in raja pocket books v radha pocket books found that the plaintiffs in his comic character the herpetologist nagraj had been infringed by the defendants character nagesh based on the semantic and phonetic similarities in their respective characters names, as well as in their visual representations and conceptual characteristics. Copyright cartoon images intellectual property center, llc. So, trademark would only come into play for secondary characters in widely merchandised works. For removal of ed images, trademarks, or other issues. In regards to cartoon andor comic bookstrip characters, visual representation must also. The standard for infringement is called substantially similar. If it is absolutely necessary to the script that you use these names in a referential manner. And, in fact, superpowers cant really be protected. This portion of the site is for informational purposes only.
Protection extends not only to a work as a whole but also to sufficiently unique elements contained within a work, such as comic book characters. The actual artwork and script will be ed as soon as you set it down. So technically the protection for a comic book character lasts for the duration of the. Although comic book characters are not listed in the copyright act, courts have long held that extends not only to original works as a. The 100 best comic book characters of all time paste. Concepts like robots, men in black, beefy army dudes with guns, samurai, etc. These characters interact with each other over various everyday topics. This protec tion extends to any able pictorial or written expression contained in the work. Comic book characters are more likely to contain some unique elements of expression that can be ed. If i paint an original picture of a cartoon or comic book. I am interested in buying a couple character s from some comic book publishing companies the way rob liefeld bought the rights to fighting american from joe kirby, or how dynamite. As a user generated site, comic book movie respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects its users to do the same.
In that case, dc comics, which also owns rights to the batman comic book series, sued mark towle, owner of gotham garage, who was in the. Two or more unpublished cartoons or comic strips can be. I know that if i just copy an existing image that im violating laws. Subsequently, the delhi high court in raja pocket books v radha pocket books found that the plaintiffs in his comic character the herpetologist nagraj. The court also found, in the alternative, that the batmobile is entitled to protection as a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work and is not excluded from protection as a useful article.
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