Marvel Caught in Classic Pot/Kettle Dilemma
Death points to this Law.com article on Marvel Comics suit against the operators of the online game "City of Heroes", which the comics giant alleges violates its trademarks by allowing players to design characters who look like Marvel superheroes - Wolverine, the Hulk, etc.
Now, I agree with both the author and Lady Death (Speaking of which, isn't Lady Death a Marvel Comics character? Indeed she is. Bring on the lawyers!) that the lawsuit is silly on the legal merits. But what bothers me more is the blatant, icy-cold hypocrisy of Marvel Comics suing someone else for creating derivative characters. The whole comics industry is built on derivative characters, whether they're borrowed from other comic books or pop culture or literature. Should the producers of "Shaft" have sued over Luke Cage? Should DC have sued over either the Fantastic Four or the Avengers, both of which were blatant attempts to rip off the Justice League of America? Or over the "Flashback" series, which was a knock-off of the "Year One" series? And how different, really, are the New Mutants (first issue, 1983) from the New Teen Titans (first issue, 1980)? And how did Professor Tolkien (who, after all, was still alive in 1969) feel about Dr. Karl Lykos' alter-ego?
This is like when Disney, which made its fortunes strip-mining works in the public domain for all they're worth, lobbies to extend its own copyrights into infinity. Not just bad law and bad public policy, but deeply unseemly.
Now, I agree with both the author and Lady Death (Speaking of which, isn't Lady Death a Marvel Comics character? Indeed she is. Bring on the lawyers!) that the lawsuit is silly on the legal merits. But what bothers me more is the blatant, icy-cold hypocrisy of Marvel Comics suing someone else for creating derivative characters. The whole comics industry is built on derivative characters, whether they're borrowed from other comic books or pop culture or literature. Should the producers of "Shaft" have sued over Luke Cage? Should DC have sued over either the Fantastic Four or the Avengers, both of which were blatant attempts to rip off the Justice League of America? Or over the "Flashback" series, which was a knock-off of the "Year One" series? And how different, really, are the New Mutants (first issue, 1983) from the New Teen Titans (first issue, 1980)? And how did Professor Tolkien (who, after all, was still alive in 1969) feel about Dr. Karl Lykos' alter-ego?
This is like when Disney, which made its fortunes strip-mining works in the public domain for all they're worth, lobbies to extend its own copyrights into infinity. Not just bad law and bad public policy, but deeply unseemly.
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