DIGITAL COMIC MUSEUM APP... for the AppStore...

[tbdeinc]

I have my comic apps running on the AppStore...

http://www.alice7.com/

I love the Airboy/Airfighters series and would like the forums thoughts on me putting out a Free Comic App on this...

What are, if any, legal concerns or any considerations at all?

George

[tbdeinc]

And does anyone have a clue where the last comic in the entire series is?

Airboy Comics v03 issue 03



OR can anyone suggest any other series that is complete that would be a good start to put up as a free comic app?



GPG

[Yoc]

Hi George,
DCM doesn't 'own' any of the comics on the site.  They are all donated by the scanners and we are more like a library than a store.  We can't stop anyone from using scans on the site for anything they like.

But before anything you need to do your own legal checking and absolutely consult a copyright lawyer on any title/titles you might be considering for this project of yours.  We are not the final word on what is or is not safe to use in commercial endeavours. If you do use something please give the original scanner credit for their work if it's listed.  If you decide to produce something we'd appreciate you contact me in a Private Message if you were thinking of mentioning the DCM site.

I'm sure JohnC will have more sage advice. Apps are something I've never investigated. How they might work legally is way over my head.  I'm sure even Free apps must have to be cleared to be sure they aren't breaking some kind of copyright.

You can check any series on GCD for specifics of how long they lasted, etc -
http://www.comics.org/

-Yoc

[John C]

That's about the size of things.  The books appear to be in the public domain, so there aren't any ownership issues by definition, but we can't guarantee it in any legal sense.

Other possible legal issues (unrelated to the comics) off the top of my head would basically be patents and contractual issues.  In software, a LOT of obvious, common functionality is covered under recent patent (a company called Lodsys has started chasing app developers over the idea of an "in-app upgrade button, which is absurd).  And I believe that Apple has been firm on the stance that you can't offer things to the user outside of Apple's purchasing system, so it might not be something you can clear with them.  But that's just speculation and a little bit of rumor.

[tbdeinc]

Thanks for the replies...

All this I am going to consider and then some...

Interesting regarding "public domain"... does the concept even exist... if you have to put into consideration a multitude "of-interest" factors that could be by multiple parties... then is anything really in the public domain?

Is there a drop dead date that anything before that date is 100% public domain?

[Yoc]

Hi George,
Yep, the chips are stacked against public domain status.

(shameless plug)
JVJ might have some suggestions. 
For his own magazine - ImageS he uses 1922 as the cutoff date and let me tell you, if you haven't see some of the super cool stuff he's shared  you're in for a treat.  Check out the rich history that influenced more than a few of the artists we've been enjoying here.
http://www.bpib.com/imagesmagfolder/imagesmag/index.html
His Illustrators bios section is packed with wonderful stuff to see and learn -
http://www.bpib.com/illustra.htm
(end of shameless plug)

You might also read "JohnC's 'How To Check PD Status Tutorial" - it's a good place to start to learn about checking Copyright status. -  http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/forum/index.php/topic,2452.0.html

GL,
-Yoc

[John C]

George, the problem isn't so much continued copyright (though that's certainly one problem in the grand scheme), but more that we might be wrong and someone could file a frivolous lawsuit against you knowing that you don't have the money to fight it or to counter-sue.

My point was that we do enough checking to make ourselves comfortable, but only your own documented research is useful if someone decides to haul you into court.  But beyond that, the copyright status itself (since material published this long ago relies on government-filed documentation) should be mostly cut and dried.