Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Legal notice: At Newsarama, Matt Brady takes a closer look at Carmine Infantino's $4 million lawsuit against Warner Bros. and DC Comics:

"As viewed in today’s light, the idea that Infantino would even think that he would be able to lay any claim to the characters he created while working as a freelancer for DC would seem ridiculous, but the time frame in which he created for DC was much different from today. Cronyism was rampant, as were handshake (and backroom) deals. In fact, one of the first things Infantino is credited with doing when he came on at the wheel of DC’s ship was to end many of the less straight business practices of the company. The work for hire contracts that are a staple of the modern comics industry weren’t in place, and, as other legal cases have shown, there was plenty of wiggle room in regards to meanings when a creator was asked to create a character."