User talk:Cebr1979

Welcome
Hi, welcome to ! Thanks for your edit to the Jimmy Wherever page.

Please leave a message on my talk page if I can help with anything! -- Crimsoncrusader (Talk) 00:12, February 11, 2013

Hello Cebr1979, I just wanted to let you know we discontinued using the Characters category for pages. We only use it for categories. Thanks Crimsoncrusader (talk) 06:14, February 13, 2013 (UTC)

Green Ghost (Text) Isn't an Actual Ghost
The Ghost Characters is for true ghosts such as Sergeant Spook or Wraith. Ghost Themed Characters is the category for characters whose name, powers, or costume fit in a ghostly motiff, but are not true ghosts like Green Ghost (Text) or Ghost (Lev Gleason). Crimsoncrusader (talk) 20:18, April 25, 2013 (UTC)

International Copyright Law Issues
First off I wanted to thank you, Cebr1979, for all your hard work and contributions, but can I ask you to hold off on adding anymore international comic book characters published after 1923 or whose creators aren't anonymous. The laws in Canada, the U.K., Mexico, and Australia are all based on the life of the author plus 50 or 70 years after their death with the length depending on the country. Here's a list of countries' copyright lengths.

If the creator is unknown such as in the case of Six-Gun Gorilla, then the term of copyright last from the date of publication plus 50/70 years. Also works in Canada as employees for their employers would also fall under this, but their is an exception for work done by freelancers since they aren't technically employees, the copyright of their term is still life plus 50/70 years.

I know that digitalcomicsmuseum.com and comicbookplus.com have many international comics as part of their public domain collections, but I don't know if their necessarily right about the legal status in this case. I made the same mistake early on and added several international characters but after examining the laws of each country and asking about it on the forums no one can provide a solid explanation of why these character's copyright had expired. If you can provide me with solid documentation on why these characters are public domain let me know and I'll gladly restore their pages to the wikia.

Basically getting into international copyright laws is complicated and I would feel more comfortable if we would do more research before we go and add them to the wikia. Thanks Crimsoncrusader (talk) 06:25, May 17, 2013 (UTC)

Okay
Ya, okay, that's all fine and good. I live in Canada and work for a Canadian publisher so I can definitely shed some light on the subject for you. In the meantime, is it possible to get the deleted content back so I can upload it to the Canadian Comic Book Database Wiki (which I had planned on doing this morning?

Cebr, I just want to second Crimsoncrusader's appreciation for all the work you've done on the wiki. If you have some insight into Canadian copyright law, I would love to be better educated on it. I have been a prolific contributor to the wiki myself, but I have stayed away from all characters originally published by Canadian companies for precisely the reasons that Crimsoncrusader articulated. While I feel like I have a pretty solid understanding of which works published in the US are public domain, I am very confused about Canadian works. If you could clear it up for me, I would be the first to help you in getting every last obscure Canadian character ever published onto the site. Freeuniverse (talk) 00:27, May 18, 2013 (UTC)Freeuniverse

Yes I will get all the information for you so you can add them to the  Canadian Comic Book Database Wiki and I look foward to learning more about Canadian copyright law. Thanks for being understanding. Crimsoncrusader (talk) 05:34, May 18, 2013 (UTC)

Hi guys!
My meetings from yesterday ended up with me having more work for today and I couldn't get back to this until now.

That wikipedia link isn't correct when dealing with a medium like comics (or magazines, which is the field I work in).

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-42/section-13-20121107.html The Canadian website on copyright states: (3) Where the author of a work was in the employment of some other person under a contract of service or apprenticeship and the work was made in the course of his employment by that person, the person by whom the author was employed shall, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, be the first owner of the copyright, but where the work is an article or other contribution to a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical, there shall, in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, be deemed to be reserved to the author a right to restrain the publication of the work, otherwise than as part of a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical.

Basically, the comics company in question would legally own the work, not the author. This is different in the cae of, say, a novel because the author of said novel is never hired by the publishing company, they're contracted. Golden Age comics authors were employed by the publisher.

This is why Moonstone Books (an American publisher) was able to release Johnny Canuck and the Northern Guard featuring Johnny Canuck, Ghost Woman, Trick Merlin, Purple Rider, Commander Steel, and others. The only character that needed renaming was Nelvana because of her name (but not the character herself) being trademarked by Nelvana Animations.

When a publisher in Canada owns the rights to a work, that work becomes public domain 50 years after that publisher folds. With the Golden Age Comics companies all folding in the 50's, those works (and characters) would have become public domain within the last 10 years (give or take).

I guess it could be argued that the author's could have made an agreement to the contrary but, they also could have been on Mars. In any case, whether the author did or didn't make an agreement to the contrary, it would be the author's responsibility to let the world know and, as far I as I know, none ever have.Cebr1979 (talk) 01:54, May 19, 2013 (UTC)

I was gossipping with a co-worker last night about this and she brought up that Golden Age character Mr. Monster who had been revived in the 80's. Here's the wikipedia page to Michael T. Gilbert (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_T._Gilbert), who also states that because the publisher had long since been out of print (also with no mention of the creator being alive or dead), the character is public domain.Cebr1979 (talk) 18:48, May 19, 2013 (UTC)