Digital Comic Museum
DCM Download Site => What you can upload => Topic started by: OtherEric on March 21, 2013, 10:32:19 PM
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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?
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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.
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The Spirit is also protected but because they were not renewed we get to carry them anyways. Not sure about Smokey
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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.
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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.