The Law for Comic Book Creators: Essential Concepts and Applications

Since the creation of the comic book, cases of legal conflict and confusion have often arisen where concepts such as public domain, unincorporated entities and moral rights are involved. As a result, comics creators are frequently concerned about whether they are protecting themselves.

There are many questions and no single place to find the answers--that is, until now.

Entertaining as it instructs, this book seeks to provide those answers, examining the legal history of comics and presenting information in a way that is understandable to everyone. While not seeking to provide legal advice, this book presents the legal background in plain English, and looks at the stories behind the cases. Every lawsuit has a story and every case has lessons to be learned. As these lessons are explored, the reader will learn the importance of contracts, the basics of copyright and trademark, the precautions necessary when working with public domain characters and the effects of censorship.

Joe Sergi is an attorney and an award winning author in the horror, sci-fi and young adult genres. He regularly writes on the history of comics and censorship for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. He works as a senior litigation counsel for a United States government agency, is a member of the adjunct faculty at George Mason University School of Law and teaches comic book law for Comics Experience.