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Gary Friedrich and his company filed the 61-page complaint
April 4 in federal court in Illinois claiming 21 violations
based on the production and marketing of Sony's recent "Ghost
Rider," starring
Nicolas Cage and
Eva Mendes. Friedrich claims
the copyrights used in the film and in related products
reverted from Marvel to him in 2001. The defendants include Sony's Columbia TriStar Motion
Picture Group, producers Relativity Media, Crystal Sky Pictures
and Michael De Luca Prods. as well as Hasbro Inc. and Take-Two
Interactive. Friedrich alleges copyright infringement, and accuses
Marvel of waste for failing "to properly utilize and
capitalize" on the Ghost Rider character. Marvel's attempts to
do so, Friedrich claims, have only damaged the value of his
work by failing to properly promote and protect the characters
and by accepting inadequate royalties from co-defendants.
Friedrich also claims that toymaker Hasbro and videogame firm
Take-Two have improperly created merchandise based on the
characters. Friedrich created the character of Johnny Blaze and his
alter ego Ghost Rider in 1968. Three years later, he agreed to
publish the character in comic books through Stan Lee's
Magazine Management, which eventually became Marvel
Entertainment. Under the agreement, Magazine Management became holder of
the copyright for the first issue, which explains the origin
story of Ghost Rider. Lee's company also held the copyrights to
subsequent Ghost Rider works. However, Magazine Management allegedly never registered the
work with the Copyright Office and, pursuant to federal law,
Friedrich regained the copyrights to Ghost Rider in 2001. "Nonetheless, without any compensation to and without any
agreement, consent or participation of plaintiff ... in late
2006 or early 2007, the defendants herein wrongfully embarked
upon a high-profile campaign, arrangement, joint venture and
conspiracy to exploit, profit from and utilize plaintiff's
copyrights, the Johnny Blaze character and persona, the origin
story and the related characters and personas created by
plaintiff, in various endeavors, including, but not limited to,
the use of the same in movie theater presentations and
promotions, commercials, action-figure toys, video games,
clothing and novels," the lawsuit states. The "Ghost Rider" film opened February 16 in North America
and has grossed an estimated $214.6 million in worldwide box
office, according to boxofficemojo.com. Friedrich seeks unspecified damages for claims of copyright
infringement, violations of federal and Illinois state unfair
competition laws, negligence, waste, tortuous interference with
prospective business expectancy, misappropriation of
characters, unauthorized use of the characters and false
advertising and endorsement. A Sony spokesman said the studio had no comment on the suit
and had not been served with the complaint. Reuters/Hollywood Reporter |
The creator of
Ghost Rider has sued Marvel Enterprises, Sony Pictures
Entertainment and several entities over what he claims is an
unauthorized "joint venture and conspiracy to exploit, profit
from and utilize" his copyrights to the comic book character. 
