Nerds in Court
Movies
GHOST RIDER LAWSUIT BROUGHT BACK FROM THE DEAD
In December 2011, NiC covered the case of Gary Friedrich, the comic book writer who claims credit for inventing the flaming-skulled, motorcycle-riding hero of Marvel Comics. Friedrich’s case had been moved to New York federal court in 2008. Friedrich essentially claimed that his contract with Marvel gave them the rights to Ghost Rider in … Continue reading
TIME TO KICK THAT NASTY HOBBIT: JUDGE ISSUES TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER ON ‘AGE OF HOBBITS’ MOCKBUSTER
It was 1937 when Tolkien published “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again” to wide critical acclaim, from which time it has sold an estimated 35 million to 100 million copies. It was 1993 when Disney brought a lawsuit against a company, Goodtimes Home Video Corp. in the Southern District federal court in New York. … Continue reading
COURT RULES THAT MARVEL, NOT CREATOR, OWNS GHOST RIDER
Gary Friedrich began working with Marvel in the mid-1960′s writing Western comics and Sgt. Fury, among others. One of the comics Friedrich created was ‘Ghost Rider’ as a Western character that debuted in 1967. There was no flaming skull back then, just a ghostly all-white cowboy on a ghostly all-white horse. In 1972, Johnny Blaze, … Continue reading
HASBRO CLAIMS ASUS ARE DECEPTICONS
In April 2011, the computer maker Asus released its “Transformers” line of laptops. Hasbro, maker of the popular “Transformers” toy franchise contacted Asus and asked them stop using the name, but did not file suit. Yet, this month Asus revealed its ‘sequel’ to the “Transformers” laptop: Transformer Prime. Optimus Prime is the name of the … Continue reading
SUMMIT SUES OWNER OF TWILIGHT.COM
Twilight.com, which is still up, is not a great website. Other stories have called it ‘primitive’ and ‘unimpressive’ but it is operational. There are some links to buying Twilight products on amazon, a plug for Twilight Zone, and an ad for playing a vampire on Second Life. However, Summit, the owners of the Twilight franchise, … Continue reading
GORDON GECKO SAYS ‘LIONSGATE IS BAD’: ICAHN WALKS FROM TAKEOVER
Corporate ‘raider’ Carl Icahn, angel to some and demon to others, has been a major player behind the scenes in much of the entertainment world. Said to be an inspiration for Gordon Gecko in ‘Wall Street’ (minus the crimes and prison sentence, but famously known to have said, “In this business, you want a friend? … Continue reading
‘THE EXPENDABLES’ LAWSUIT EXPENDED, BUT EXPECT A SEQUEL
NuImage, makers of ‘The Expendables’ brought suit earlier this year against over 23,000 internet users alleged to have illegally downloaded the movie, making it the largest copyright infringement case of its kind, at least by number of defendants. Earlier this month, the court hearing the case forced NuImage to drop all anonymous defendants (usually called … Continue reading
2001: A LEGAL ODDITY; SAMSUNG USES CLARKE/KUBRICK FILM IN OPPOSITION TO APPLE’S INJUNCTION
We’ve earlier reported on Apple’s various patent lawsuits against Android-based device manufacturers Samsung and others. To be clear, Apple has moved for a preliminary injunction in the case, which would essentially prohibit Samsung from manufacturing and selling touchpad products before the case actually goes to trial. Essentially, Samsung could eventually prevail at trial, but still … Continue reading
ALIEN VS. PREDATOR VS. LOST CONTINENT: 20TH CENTURY FOX PREVAILS IN COPYRIGHT SUIT BY SCREENWRITER
Geez, you’ve got a big legal bill. Geez, you’ve got a big legal bill. In 2009, writer James Muller filed suit in the US District Court in Central California claiming that 20th Century Fox stole his script to make 2004′s ‘Alien vs. Predator.’ Muller’s script called ‘Lost Continent’ was about a government-led expedition to Antarctica … Continue reading
CONAN THE DEFENDANT: LAWSUIT FILED OVER RIGHTS TO CONAN
Sometimes before a movie gets made, the exclusive rights to make the movie change hands several times. This can often result in a lawsuit (e.g., the litigation that delayed ‘The Watchmen’) over the rights and Conan is now the subject of just such a suit filed last Friday in US District Court in California. The … Continue reading
