Just suppose that this summer, a ton of blockbuster movies comes out. They're all great movies… until you notice that the characters, settings, and story are very VERY similar to your comic. So similar in fact that it couldn't possibly be coincidence. Could you confront the people in Hollywood about it? Or is there nothing you can do?

I read something similar to this. A Japanese anime company went and did a “similar” anime to a webcomic about a guy who turns into a valkyrie. I forget the title, but I read about it while reading the comic.

Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki. :)

You never know though, it's a popular theme in Japan. Transvestitism is part of the cultural mythology lol!

…All those samurai with their fans and pretty make-up… Wasn't one of the most famous ones a bit of a queen? Kojiro? Nooo, I dunno…

——————–
Anyway, it'd be annoying.

i recently learned that they can claim post-modernism

There's a claim that Lion King is stolen and the evidence is quite strong. Some old show called Kimba the white lion.

http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm

Product Placement
There's a claim that Lion King is stolen and the evidence is quite strong. Some old show called Kimba the white lion.

http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm

I remember hearing that…long long ago.

I don't really know what would happen if Hollywood stole my comic…
Go see the movie?

But if they messed it up I'd be angry…there's a reason I date all my original pages though. If my idea gets stolen, I have sketchbooks and notebooks and pads of evidence to support that it is my stuff.

SeriousQuiche
I remember hearing that…long long ago.

Well I never said it was a fresh claim.

The creators of that cartoon have genuine proof that they made their work decades before Lion King came out but that doesn't seem to help them. The Disney corp actually claims that it's all coincidence.

I guess they could make the same claim if they stole your comic. The do have enough money to hire a nation of lawyers against you.

Everyone around steals my brilliant ideas, so Im kinda used to it…Yes, government too…Ok gotta go, time to take my medicine…Seeya! ;D

Well. If Hollywood wanted to use my comic or stories or what not. They would have hell to pay if I wasn't in on it. I'm not talking about a lawsuits. I'm talking about marching over there and bugging people endlessly until I either get my cut or get in on the actual movie. I'm a book purist, so if they are going to copy me, it better be 95%

As much as I might like to take total credit for my comic, there is no question that the story is both a common one, and that my ultimate story will be a tale told in many different ways, many times before (Have Spacesuit, Will Travel, Red Planet, the list goes on…) There are no truly new plots under the sun (and chances are, if there were one, it would deal in concepts so completely alien as to be impossible to understand by mere humans ('Vanilla Sky' comes to mind, oddly)) Anyway. I'm not greedy. I would let Hollywood do their worst and all the while scream at the top of my lungs–'this is MY story' so as to cash in on a bit of the hype. Nope…no greed here! :)

Product Placement

SeriousQuiche
I remember hearing that…long long ago.

Well I never said it was a fresh claim.

The creators of that cartoon have genuine proof that they made their work decades before Lion King came out but that doesn't seem to help them. The Disney corp actually claims that it's all coincidence.

I guess they could make the same claim if they stole your comic. The do have enough money to hire a nation of lawyers against you.

Kimba and Simba…I would have called them on that alone if it had been me.

i think i'd be pissed and flattered.

I guess that I would be quiet suprised… since when does hollywood get so short of ideas that they would go and steal a mspaint foeti figure?

First I would be surprised that hollywood would steal a comic that only 5 people read. But then again they really are running out of ideas. But for my luck they would turn Cowtoon into a hardcore porn-rock opera.

C'mon now. Hollywood, has tons of lawyers. I'm only a 16-year-old High school student. How could I possibly defend myself? I have no lawyer, and I doubt a lawyer could do anything. Since it's not technically copyrighted. Even if the copyright exists if I made it, there's really nothing I could do.

It would be amazing if I could win that case though. I would need a ton of evidence. But anyway, I doubt I have anything to worry about.

Man… they can have it!

Lonnehart
Just suppose that this summer, a ton of blockbuster movies comes out. They're all great movies… until you notice that the characters, settings, and story are very VERY similar to your comic. So similar in fact that it couldn't possibly be coincidence. Could you confront the people in Hollywood about it? Or is there nothing you can do?

I'd cry then sue

I'm still friggin' ecstatic that Joe Mad somehow read my college newspaper comic and copied a specific subplot and scene for Battlechasers.

Hollywood would turn it (them) into something it's (they're) not, and I would cry. Especially with LF (not very likely to be stolen by anyone, anyway, lol; and it's already heavily influenced by a few things… some I didn't even know about until recently, if that makes sense at all~)

I'd go see it to see what they did to it. Then I'd laugh, because it would undoubtedly be horrible and full of miss-the-point. I'd probably still enjoy it to some degree since it has my characters in it.

steal my two page comic for their own use?

Good luck making any money on that, good people!

Just so long as they get the casting right. Though all the names are copyrighted so they can't steal them. As long as the names aren't the same if it's successful I'll go to another studio with the original to release as a copy. Then comes the the “Epic Movie” type spoof I wrote a few years back.

With my luck it'll show up on Robot Chicken. :) Then I'll show them robofemoids and they'll jump at a chance to do that! lol!

I coined the term Robofemoid so no one better steal that! My lawyers and I will hunt them down and sue them with extreme predjudice.

I'd… probably be unable to sue them effectively.
Sooo….

I'd ride on the coattails of the movie to promote my webcomic :P

Hmm…

I don't think I'd be able to do much about it, so I guess I'd just ignore it. Or go see it myself for the lulz. It doesn't really matter. XD

I can't do anything about the Pkmn, anime, etc. comics. But the original comics I made, I would definitely contact them and try to sue them. Of course they would win though.

Product Placement
There's a claim that Lion King is stolen and the evidence is quite strong. Some old show called Kimba the white lion.

http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm

actually yes, disney stole the concept for “the lion king” off osamu tezuka's classic “kimba the white lion” series, manga was from the 50s and the anime was released in the 60s. (this is even parodied in “the simpsons” episode “round springfield” where bleeding gums murphy dies and his face is seen in the clouds….along with a lion's head that says “avenge my death kimba…uh…i mean simba.”)

Tezuka's studio threatened to sue the pants off disney for plagerising their story, but osamu's widow stepped in and said that osamu was such a huge fan of walt disney's work, and was the reason behind him getting into animation and his character designs of atom/astro-boy were stylized after disney's own character designs. the official studio stance has since backed mrs. tezuka's own.

all the while disney STILL claims ignorance to the whole conspiracy. assholes. that is why i don't like disney at all as a “creative” company….and have only seen the “pirate..” and “toy story” movies.


but what do you do if you are a little fish fighting a shark? date your work. mail copies to yourself (the poor man's copyright). and document the hell out of shit. you have all that, you could stand a chance at proving you've been ripped off.

I'd do the smart thing. First off, I'd alert everyone I could online. Every community from webcomics to general media, claiming to ask for advice and any help they may have. Next, I find a good lawyer who will work pro bono because he can see from the evidence it's a pretty open and shut case.

But, before I do that, I find a way to contact the people and make them an offer. 30% gross profit on whatever the liscence makes and I don't sue, plus $20 million up front to keep my mouth shut, which shall be under the guise of buying the rights.

Of course, that's only for someone big like Fox, Warner Bros. or Disney. For smaller companies I'd probably ask for less up front.

I'd get the media interested.

Send my story to magazines and newspapers.

Get some support.

You guys would be surprised, I think, by the number of lawsuits that go on like this for pretty much each and every successful movie. Almost every single one. Sometimes they are justified and sometimes people are looking for money. I, myself, have been threatened by lawsuits before through Platinum. The most ridiculous being once when I received a unsolicited submission about two women on the run from the law from someone in March of 2007. In April of 2007, this same person threatened to sue me after seeing Grindhouse, certain that I had told Quentin Tarantino about his idea and we had stolen it. In a month. I politely explained to him that it takes longer than a month to make a movie, but he would have none of it and I still occasionally get emails from him, asking if Quentin and I are enjoying his money.

All that is to say that there are different sides to every story and, like someone said before, a lot of similar ideas out there. That's not to say you shouldn't defend yourself if someone does steal your idea, but consult a copyright lawyer and see if they think there is a case there first. Most of them are willing to work for a cut of the judgment if you have a good case.

The other thing I would do is protect yourself now as much as you can, just to be safe. Keep strict records about when and where you post your stuff. Take occasional screen caps of your work online. Keep doodles you make on your notebooks and date them. And, above all, do not send your unsolicited work to any publisher. There are appropriate channels there, mostly to protect you from getting your idea stolen.

I'm not a lawyer, so take this advice for what it is. Just thought I'd chime in a bit and try to help.

Actually that really is helpful advice. To hear the perspective of someone who works with the kind of company that usually ends up on the other side of these arguments ( Any larger media company really, not just Plat. ) is really interesting to me.

Does this mean that you'll be taking a larger part in the DD forums Dan? I know I wouldn't mind having a few folks from Platinum as full members of the community.


As for myself, I think if I saw Last Words turned into a blockbuster movie I'd have to call up the guy who wrote the screen play just to ask how he managed to turn a single panel gag strip into a coherent movie script.

I've been around here for ages. I just usually don't have much useful to say, as not much useful comes from my tiny, reptile brain. :-)

Platinum Dan
asking if Quentin and I are enjoying his money.

It must be nice for him to have that kind of confidence and esteem in his work to think someone would want to take it and make a movie (REALLY FAST lol).

As for me, I couldn't fathom anyone wanting to use something I made for anything. If I saw something that seemed like a rip-off, I would assume that I'm not as creative and original as I thought I was. I'd figure that if people in Hollywood are writing the same kind of stuff, there's no reason for me to. Feeling like an unoriginal hack, I would probably put my stories away and retire from creative ventures