Gaiman v. McFarlane
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
360 F.3d 644 (2004)
- Written by Sarah Holley, JD
Facts
Neil Gaiman (plaintiff) and Todd McFarlane (defendant) were both celebrated figures in the world of comic books, Gaiman as a scriptwriter and McFarlane as both a scriptwriter and illustrator. In 1992, McFarlane began publishing a series of comic books entitled Spawn that he wrote and illustrated himself. The leading character in the series was a man named Simmons, who had died and returned to the world of the living as a Hellspawn. Due to criticism of the first issues in the series, McFarlane invited Gaiman to write the script for Spawn Issue No. 9. Gaiman later brought suit against McFarlane seeking a declaration that he owned copyrights jointly with McFarlane in certain comic-book characters introduced in Spawn Issue No. 9, namely, Medieval Spawn and Cogliostro. The district court entered a judgment that declared Gaiman to be the co-owner of the characters in question. McFarlane appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Posner, J.)
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