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Post by theironshadow on Mar 5, 2020 8:38:05 GMT -5
Jason said: "As for Cabinet and REH Properties, or whatever they are calling themselves these days, they aren't that big of a company, basically just an IP holding company making money off licensed products and hoping for that movie or tv deal that's never coming. They'd fight it in court, too." An IP holding company owned by a multi-millonaire married to a lawyer. Myself, I wouldn't risk creating new stuff without their approval. I didn't realise that Frederik Malmberg's husband Joachim Zetterberg was a lawyer, explains his position in the company over the years. As for Cabinet visibly 'relaxing' the rights to Conan, something must have happened; at one point they were shutting down even fan films; now they are allowing the publication of effectively competing graphic novel adaptations of Conan under the proviso the Conan name isn't used on the cover. That's quite a change in stance indeed. I guess that the more exposure that Conan as a character get's, the better, in whatever positive format.
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ramos
Wanderer
Gunderman
Posts: 22
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Post by ramos on Jan 15, 2021 10:06:05 GMT -5
Hello, dear Conan fans.I saw a lot of cool Conan audiobooks that are superbly done on YouTube this year. I was wondering are Conan stories in the public domain or the people who uploaded these book on youtube had to get some kind of nod from somebody to be able to do that?
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Post by themirrorthief on Jan 15, 2021 11:16:04 GMT -5
I dont know but thanks for calling me Dear...
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Post by linefacedscrivener on Jan 15, 2021 11:36:06 GMT -5
Hello, dear Conan fans.I saw a lot of cool Conan audiobooks that are superbly done on YouTube this year. I was wondering are Conan stories in the public domain or the people who uploaded these book on youtube had to get some kind of nod from somebody to be able to do that? Copyright is tricky business and I am no lawyer, but I do spend a lot of time dealing with this. When Howard published during his lifetime, the Copyright law in effect was the 1909 Copyright Law. It stated that an author had a copyright on their work for 28 years, at which point they could renew it for another 28 years (initially 14). As Howard was unable to renew the copyright and his estate was not in a position to do so, the copyright ran out. However, keep in mind, this is only on the original Weird Tales and early pulp stories. Anything published later is most likely still under copyright law and cannot be used (this would include the de Camp Conan stories, his revision of the Conan stories, or the more modern pure-Howard text Conan stories). Some authors were alive, still engaged in the publishing business, and had the foresight to renew their copyright, including such authors as August Derleth and Robert Bloch. Hope that helps.
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ramos
Wanderer
Gunderman
Posts: 22
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Post by ramos on Jan 15, 2021 12:38:49 GMT -5
Really helpful. Thank you for your time!
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Post by Jason Aiken on Feb 20, 2022 0:54:17 GMT -5
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Post by cromfelge on Feb 20, 2022 6:32:08 GMT -5
Now we can legally talk about our great leader and express ourselves in lots of art about him
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Post by karasuthecrow on Feb 20, 2022 21:10:52 GMT -5
I didn't realise that Frederik Malmberg's husband Joachim Zetterberg was a lawyer, explains his position in the company over the years. As for Cabinet visibly 'relaxing' the rights to Conan, something must have happened; at one point they were shutting down even fan films; now they are allowing the publication of effectively competing graphic novel adaptations of Conan under the proviso the Conan name isn't used on the cover. That's quite a change in stance indeed. I guess that the more exposure that Conan as a character get's, the better, in whatever positive format. REH works entered on public domain in most of the world, for example here in México all his works are on public domain, also just to verify I checked this with an IP layer and he told em that following the laws most of the Howard works should be in public domain in all over the world BUT the USA.
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Post by cromfelge on Feb 22, 2022 16:00:53 GMT -5
By the way, this is a general question, how do I know who owns what and who has which rights etc? Conan and REH stuff aren't the only things I get confused about on a regular basis. How is there not an easy way to find this out?
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Post by Jason Aiken on Feb 22, 2022 23:31:48 GMT -5
By the way, this is a general question, how do I know who owns what and who has which rights etc? Conan and REH stuff aren't the only things I get confused about on a regular basis. How is there not an easy way to find this out? You really need to study copyright law, do some research. That Duke website I linked to in the Pooh post is a good resource. I am sure there are some good books on the topic on Amazon. You can also consult public domain websites like wikisource, Project Gutenberg (but watch for different countries), and Librivox. Keep in mind, countries have different copyright laws. What is public domain in one, might still be under copyright in another. Here is a site that is good for searches: www.copyright.gov/public-records/
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Post by Jason Aiken on Dec 26, 2022 12:14:05 GMT -5
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Post by Jason Aiken on Dec 30, 2022 14:51:22 GMT -5
Reading the two links above regarding public domain and US Copyright law, now keep in mind I am not an attorney and this isn't legal advice, always do your own research and consult an atttorney: Robert E. Howard's characters that are in the public domain appear to be free to use but one must stick to the public domain aspects, you can't go into the material that is still under copyright. The supreme court believes if you bring trademarks into the public domain conversation it would create a type of mutant copyright law that they did not seem to appreciate. So it seems that as long as you stick to the public domain aspects of the characters, you are operating within the law when creating new works. But...if you want to start selling Conan merchandise (shirts, posters, etc...) I'm not so sure the law is clear on that yet. Recall Cabinet sued a guy a while back for selling Conan and other REH-related miniatures and won... so that might have established a precedent that it was violating trademark. Then again, the judge seemed to not be aware that some of REH's works were in the public domain and they might have obtained a friendly judge.... The guy they sued was from outside of the US and wasn't able to appear or hire a lawyer either. Here's a writeup of that case: www.courthousenews.com/artist-thwacked-for-conan-the-barbarian-infringement/So I personally wouldn't sell any Conan or REH-related merchandise at this point. It's a shame the above guy did not have the means to fight this by getting an attorney to test the waters.
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Post by karasuthecrow on Feb 11, 2023 22:09:48 GMT -5
By the way, this is a general question, how do I know who owns what and who has which rights etc? Conan and REH stuff aren't the only things I get confused about on a regular basis. How is there not an easy way to find this out? All the REH rights are owned by HEROIC SIGNATURES which is a subsidiary of the gaming company FUNCON , who is also owned by the chinese gigant TENENT.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2023 7:47:14 GMT -5
I guess, in the UK, I can adapt a Conan story by REH as a graphic novel and sell it at Amazon.
In the UK, the published work of REH became public domain 70 years (2006) after his death.
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Post by karasuthecrow on Feb 12, 2023 14:59:13 GMT -5
I guess, in the UK, I can adapt a Conan story by REH as a graphic novel and sell it at Amazon. In the UK, the published work of REH became public domain 70 years (2006) after his death. Same situation here in México, also in Spain where they arelady started to developt novels and games.
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