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Originally Posted by teh603
It should protect the creator, not some vulture who offers a lot of money for that idea.
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As was already pointed out here, Puzo was already a top-selling author. There is no question that he had access to top agents and lawyers. He was not a victim; he made a free choice, and his estate is allegedly refusing to honor the contract Puzo signed.
It's abundantly clear that the estate is churning out low-quality "Godfather" books to make a buck. And again,
if they held the copyrights, that would be perfectly legal and their choice. The only issue here is what is specified in the contracts.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by teh603
Unfortunately, most authors and creators aren't the ones who get protection. Just look at the Bratz trials to see how easily lost copyright over a given property can be, and how murky the law surrounding "work for hire" contracts is.
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That's completely irrelevant.
The "Godfather" works are not "works-for-hire." The book came first,
then he sold the rights, and co-wrote the screenplays for the movie sequels.
In terms of Bratz, the creator (Carter Bryant) was working at Mattel, and his contract specified that he could not take ideas he developed while at Mattel to a competitor. This includes ideas developed after-hours. He left Mattel, was hired by MGA, who then put out the "Bratz" dolls. I.e. no matter who he was working for at the time he developed the dolls, it's work-for-hire. The only question is whether he was working at Mattel, or on a break from them, when he came up with the idea.