Quote:
Originally Posted by plib
It goes to Disney!  |
Quote:
Originally Posted by GA Russell
Elfwreck, you might want to study the David Goodis case.
As I recall my reading, Goodis left everything to his brother, who died without heirs. Goodis's estate was suing a movie studio for unpaid royalties. They settled low because there wasn't anyone to care about it anymore.
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Thanks! I'll look into that.
In my case, I have a friend who has manuscripts from a friend of hers who died with no family (and no will, because see above, no family); she knows she'd have his blessing to publish them, but of course that's legally irrelevant. She's trying to figure out how much searching of what type might be needed to find out who would have the rights.
(Before anyone asks:
- The manuscripts are not pre-1963.
- They are not, exactly, unpublished works; they are drafts of works that were later published in various places. However, the drafts were changed rather a lot for publication, and she knows there'd be interest in the earlier versions.
- "No family" means a divorced spouse, no children, no living parents at time of death. Unsure about cousins, although that could possibly be researched. Assume for sake of discussion that no family can be found--I want to know if there's any legal precedents covering IP rights "reverting to the state" or similar.)