Domestically, that is.
Victor Miller, the screenwriter behind the original Friday the 13th has scored a massive legal victory, which will grant him the domestic rights to the iconic slasher franchise.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided in the writer’s favor in regards to copyright termination. The legal battle was between Miller and the film’s producer, Sean S. Cunningham. Per reports, Cunningham had argued that Miller wrote the screenplay as a work “made for hire” as a reason miller shouldn’t have rights to the screenplay. The court, however, disagreed in 2018, leading to the recent victory, and ultimately granting the domestic rights to Miller, while Cunningham will retain the foreign rights to the film, as well as IP related to the sequels.
Reporter Eriq Gardner sums up the nature of the decision and what it means over on Twitter:
This is actually a super relevant decision. Notably, the estates of a number of comics legends are seeking the rights to characters created by them back from companies like Disney. Notably, the estate of Steve Ditko is seeking the rights to characters like Dr. Strange and Spider-Man, among others. Disney, much like Cunningham in this case, is arguing that the characters were made under “work for hire”, which as an argument is now looking a lot less secure.
Source: IGN
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