comic book and art question

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA

Dell comics went defunct in 1973. In 1964 a friend drew a comic. He still has the art and wanted to put out a book of the original art. Since the company is not in business and he owns the art, and the book is not a reprint of the original but the life of people, would he need the persons permission as a historical book, on the art of the original book??? Could he reprint it as a comic?

I could find no copyright renewals after 1978.
Thanks

Several things matter here.

First, is what was his contract with Dell. Did he give them all rights? Did they just get first serial rights? He may have the rights to subsequent publications if the latter was true.

While Dell comics is history, the rights to their copyrights almost certainly passed to their parent company Dell Publishing.

Copyright renewal for works originally copyrighted on or after Jan 1, 1964 is not required.

Thank you for your reply. So Dell Publishing is still in business? So I would have to contact them as this would have been work for hire.

If Dell Publishing has those rights then I would only have to deal with them, Correct?

Jim

If I want to produce a book displaying only the original art and in the same size format as the art, is that copyright protected?

inker said:

Thank you for your reply. So Dell Publishing is still in business? So I would have to contact them as this would have been work for hire.

If Dell Publishing has those rights then I would only have to deal with them, Correct?

Jim

Click to expand...

Yes, thirty seconds of googling would show they are a division of Random House now.

If the work was done "for hire" for Dell, then yes even reproducing the original art (not in comic book form) would probably be subject to their rights.

Thank You for reply. I called Bantam/Dell and they do not know. I talked to the copyright office and the said $340.00 for 2 hour search, and I asked if it would be doe in 2 hours. They tell me they have no idea. So I asked if they could do a dry run and see, but they were smarter then most Government agencies. So this could get expensive, since I have people willing to throw money at this if it is a done deal.

Do you think it is easier just to ask Dell and go on the assumption they do? I would rather pay them then spin my wheels since they were original copyright holders.

And does anyone know the calculator for limited rights. For example if my net profit is $10,000.00 do they take 10%?


Thanks Jim

UPDATE*******************

The copyright holder was The Beatles (C)1964 NEMS Enterprises Ltd.
Brian Epstein's company, that was dissolved, and then the Beatles Disolved their partnership and Applecorp now has their song rights etc. but there is nothing I can find that says the book was carried to the new company. Would they have to specifically transfered it, or does it survive Brian Epsteins Heirs???

Thanks
Jim

I don't have an answer to your question, inker (and I would probably want to charge more than $340 to research it for you ), but I wanted to ask if you had checked out hero.goggles.com?

I visited the site earlier and only briefly reviewed what was there. Although I understand the fellow who owns and operates the site is not an attorney, he sure seems to like to research the history of comics and their copyright status.

As I said, I have no clue who the guy is or how reliable his research is, but you may want to check out the site and see if you think he can assist you in your search for the current owner of the rights to the comic art.

Thank You so much. I did contact him and got a response. I was able to get to the Beatles Company and submitted a fax for permission to reprint, now I guess it is a wait and see.

NEMS went under and the new companies may have not kept everything, but I will go under the assumption it is under Applecorp now. At least I know it was not Dell.

Jim

You're welcome, inker.

It sounds as if you are progressing nicely with your copyright owner search. I think your book idea is a great one. I will hope for its eventual publication.

Good luck.