Marvel wins dispute over Ghost Rider character rights

Marvel Entertainment officially owns the rights to the Ghost Rider character, now that a lawsuit has been decided. A former writer for Marvel claimed that he owned the rights to the character, Ghost Rider. The former writer for Marvel also claimed that he should be receiving some rights and monetary funds from the feature film, Ghost Rider. A U.S District judge decided in favor of Marvel Entertainment.

NY Daily News reported that Gary Friedrich lost his lawsuit against Marvel Entertainment. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest said that when Friedrich signed checks that gave all rights to the past companies of Marvel Entertainment LLC, he lost all rights to the character. The judge said that the law was clear in this case. The judge added that Friedrich relinquished rights to Marvel in order to have the chance at more freelance work with Marvel.

Friedrich said he thought he had given Marvel the rights to use Ghost Rider in comic books, but he thought he had kept the rights regarding everything else, including the rights to the feature film, which would entitle him to revenue from the film.

Comic Book Resources added that with the release of the feature film back in 2007 that featured Nicolas Cage as the Ghost Rider, Friedrich wanted to gain monetary compensation from the film and all aspects; including toys, products and video games. The lawsuit which was moved to New York, has officially been settled in favor of Marvel. The lawsuit was filed back in 2007.

The sequel to the Ghost Rider film will be released in February, according to Comic Book Resources.