Who Owns Thor?
A legal battle over the ownership of the copyrights for some of the most popular superheros in the Marvel universe has been resolved. The heirs of Jack Kirby, artist, had sent 45 notices trying to terminate Marvel’s copyrights over characters drawn by Kirby. The courts came to the conclusion that the copyrights in question are the sole property of Marvel Comics. The list included Spiderman, Thor, Ironman, the X-men, and the Avengers. Marvel in turn filed a federal lawsuit in January 2010 to officially invalidate the claims of the Kirby heirs. Marvel states that Kirby was hired on a “for hire” basis voiding any artistic claims he or his heirs may have on the product of his work. The comics and characters were published between the years 1958 and 1963
More People Buy e-Books
According to Pub Track, a Bowker consumer service, e-books had the largest jump in the publication market in the 1st quarter of 2011 compared to the same quarter in 2010. Even though e-books only represented 6.4% of the spending margin, the unit margin for e-books is 12.4% compared to 2.5% last year. The lower cost of an e-book compared to a Hardcover or mass market has been making headway in the publication market. Trade paperback showed a gain from 35.6% to 38%.The biggest fall in monetary percentage belongs to the book club format which represents 2.8% compared to 9.6% during the 1st quarter of 2010. Hardcover and mass market formats both had a slight fall but are holding strong in their select market. E-books have not taken over yet but it is evident that the format has been making its moves to the top.
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