Fables is now Public Domain. (Or not)

[MorningLightMountain]

https://www.pcgamer.com/creator-of-the-wolf-among-us-noir-fantasy-universe-declares-its-now-in-the-public-domain/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR0FG2HAcg2fBUuKJFxnuTe03xeMh6TAVkK-Tm-wLXR1sUqqDweQeac6dic

One Bill doesn't sound very happy with Telltale, although its unclear if that is the original Tellale or the New company.

Also I'm honestly curious how making your creation public domain works when most of the characters were public domain.

DC has now issued their own statement Fables is their copyright and not public domain regardless of what Bill claims.

https://www.superherohype.com/comics/547541-fables-dc-issues-statement-on-creators-public-domain-claim?fbclid=IwAR3rULNsgW7bi3G8LuoodotsaGEX7esHWwAe-ZQvjqhS_-7wRzE8Q88zuKA

[💚SuperMax💚]

Originally posted by MorningLightMountain:

Also I'm honestly curious how making your creation public domain works when most of the characters were public domain.

Well most characters were very specifically altered for Fables/TWAU compared to their original counterpart, and also all of the Fables/TWAU only specific story plots. And these altered versions are now in public domain!

And actually it's a very good news for Telltale aswell, they can now make whatever amount of TWAU of seasons they want and however they want it!

[MorningLightMountain]

Originally posted by 💚SuperMax💚:

And actually it's a very good news for Telltale aswell, they can now make whatever amount of TWAU of seasons they want and however they want it!

As they've not delivered a Fables game so far that's debatable and they if they were to be completely discarding canon then it wouldn't be Fables.

[Castor Troy]

Too bad TellTale didn't pay the man. Really bad behavior. If you're the original creator, you should be paid for your work.

[Nightman67]

Originally posted by Castor Troy:

Too bad TellTale didn't pay the man. Really bad behavior. If you're the original creator, you should be paid for your work.

Not true, did you read the article? It was DC who never paid him not Telltale.

"And they still have to pay me for the books they publish. And I'm not giving up on the other money they owe. One way or another, I intend to get my 50% of the money they've owed me for years for the Telltale game and other things."

[Castor Troy]

Originally posted by Nightman67:

Originally posted by Castor Troy:

Too bad TellTale didn't pay the man. Really bad behavior. If you're the original creator, you should be paid for your work.

Not true, did you read the article? It was DC who never paid him not Telltale.

"And they still have to pay me for the books they publish. And I'm not giving up on the other money they owe. One way or another, I intend to get my 50% of the money they've owed me for years for the Telltale game and other things."

My mistake! Hopefully DC pays him.

[Pluvinarch]

This actually raises the chance of more Fables and TWAU games now... Not only from TellTale, any company could pick up the characters and plot.

[MorningLightMountain]

Originally posted by Castor Troy:

Originally posted by Nightman67:

Not true, did you read the article? It was DC who never paid him not Telltale.

"And they still have to pay me for the books they publish. And I'm not giving up on the other money they owe. One way or another, I intend to get my 50% of the money they've owed me for years for the Telltale game and other things."

My mistake! Hopefully DC pays him.

If that were the case he would never have made Fables public Domain. This isn't out of altruisim this is Willingham realising it would take too much to fight legally with DC. He clearly never had issues with Fables being extended to 150 issues or the various spin offs.

[Zap Rosdower]

What a moron, hahaha! This is looking reminiscent of The Office episode where Michael attempted to declare bankruptcy by just standing up and shouting "I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY." To absolutely no one's surprise, turns out DC Comics actually has competent lawyers who signed binding contracts that make them the rightful owners of this IP. This is from IGN:

"The Fables comic books and graphic novels published by DC, and the storylines, characters, and elements therein, are owned by DC and protected under the copyright laws of the United States and throughout the world in accordance with applicable law and are not in the public domain," a statement sent to IGN reads. "DC reserves all rights and will take such action as DC deems necessary or appropriate to protect its intellectual property rights."

[MorningLightMountain]

Originally posted by Zap Rosdower:

What a moron, hahaha! This is looking reminiscent of The Office episode where Michael attempted to declare bankruptcy by just standing up and shouting "I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY." To absolutely no one's surprise, turns out DC Comics actually has competent lawyers who signed binding contracts that make them the rightful owners of this IP. This is from IGN:

"The Fables comic books and graphic novels published by DC, and the storylines, characters, and elements therein, are owned by DC and protected under the copyright laws of the United States and throughout the world in accordance with applicable law and are not in the public domain," a statement sent to IGN reads. "DC reserves all rights and will take such action as DC deems necessary or appropriate to protect its intellectual property rights."

Vertigo titles were always described as creator owned however. So I'm uncertain how much Willingham holds the rights to it.

[Captain Tuttle]

Originally posted by Zap Rosdower:

What a moron, hahaha! This is looking reminiscent of The Office episode where Michael attempted to declare bankruptcy by just standing up and shouting "I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY." To absolutely no one's surprise, turns out DC Comics actually has competent lawyers who signed binding contracts that make them the rightful owners of this IP. This is from IGN:

"The Fables comic books and graphic novels published by DC, and the storylines, characters, and elements therein, are owned by DC and protected under the copyright laws of the United States and throughout the world in accordance with applicable law and are not in the public domain," a statement sent to IGN reads. "DC reserves all rights and will take such action as DC deems necessary or appropriate to protect its intellectual property rights."

Why is His stating it seems like michael in the office but not DC stating it? Do you have any evidence to show that DC is the rightful owner of the IP as opposed to the creator?

[Zap Rosdower]

DC's statement was very obviously written by their lawyers considering the language. DC is a major corporation. They have many highly qualified lawyers on their staff. If their corporate lawyers wrote this very specific language, including implied threats of legal action, they did it because they have the contracts in black and white to back it up.

[MorningLightMountain]

Originally posted by Zap Rosdower:

DC's statement was very obviously written by their lawyers considering the language. DC is a major corporation. They have many highly qualified lawyers on their staff. If their corporate lawyers wrote this very specific language, including implied threats of legal action, they did it because they have the contracts in black and white to back it up.

and the entire reason for him doing it in the first place is because of not wanting to fight them.

[Captain Tuttle]

Warner/ Chappell claimed to own the copyright to 'Happy Birthday to You' the courts ruled they in fact did not; despite Warner/Chappell having highly qualified lawyers on staff.

[MorningLightMountain]

Originally posted by Captain Tuttle:

Warner/ Chappell claimed to own the copyright to 'Happy Birthday to You' the courts ruled they in fact did not; despite Warner/Chappell having highly qualified lawyers on staff.

There's plenty of stories along these lines such as group of Studio executives who once attempted to sue this tiny, unknown Japanese video game company over their character Donkey Kong despite not owning the rights to King Kong and also completely underestimated the defenseless, tiny, completely obscure Japanese company called Nintendo.

However Fables is a DC published comic presumably do have some rights to in some form.