Spirit Sections and Smokey Stover?

[OtherEric]

At ECCC I picked up a couple of Post-War Spirit Sections from the Baltimore Sun.  These will of course show up here before too long.  However, rather than the usual Eisner shop last page they have a Smokey Stover strip with a Spooky topper (or whatever you call a topper when it's at the bottom of the page, I can't remember...)  Very cool, of course, but I need to know if I can include them when they're posted or if I should just post the other 7 pages.  Can our resident copyright gurus give me some guidance?

[chaard]

A copyright guru, I ain't. And I'd kill for a Smokey Stover omnibus! But alas, there's a Smokey Stover website [ http://www.smokey-stover.com/ ] that says "©2003 Tribune Media Services, Inc. / Smokey Stover LLC". So it looks like the IP owners are actively protecting the material. Some Dell 4-Color issues were produced, but I haven't seen any. Anyway, for a definitive answer to your question, check the official website and ask.

[narfstar]

The Spirit is also protected but because they were not renewed we get to carry them anyways. Not sure about Smokey

[John C]

Eric, this is sort of vague direction.  Is there a copyright notice on the booklet or the strip?  It's not like there's a registry listed by character anywhere.

[OtherEric]

Ah, OK.  The strip appears to have been sourced separately, replacing the page 8 the Eisner shop provided.  The copyright notice on the Smokey Stover page is "Copyright 1948 (or 1950) News Syndicate Co. Inc." depending on the year of the issue.  There is a separate identical notice on the Spooky topper on the 1950 issue but not the 1948 issue.  There does not appear to be a notice on the Spirit story itself.