In a ruling yesterday, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest ordered the fate of Ghost Rider’s copyright ownership to be taken to trial this November. The decision follows a Federal Second Court of Appeals ruling that overturned a 2011 decision in Marvel’s favor.
In a case that seems far more complex and nuanced than the image of a burning skull driving a fiery motorcycle, Ghost Rider has been floating in the legal system for close to a decade. The reason? Former freelancer Gary Friedrich, writer of the original story featuring Johnny Blaze aka Ghost Rider, claims that as Ghost Rider is his creation that he has renewal copyrights over the character (i.e. compensation for when Blaze is used in movies such as 2007’s Ghost Rider, which not so coincidentally is the year Friedrich first filed suit).
Since 2007, Friedrich has been in a legal battle with Marvel, as well as Columbia TriStar and Relativity Media, over the rights to a character Marvel believes came from a collaborative effort that included writer-editor Roy Thomas and artist Mike Ploog, among others. In 2011 Judge Forrest ruled in favor of Marvel Entertainment. However, Friedrich appealed the ruling, leading to a June 11 decision throwing this all back in the air.
Now, thanks to legal documentation obtained by Deadline, we know the fate of who owns Ghost Rider’s copyright could be decided by a trial coming November 4. However, Judge Forrest is having all parties meet again for a final pretrial conference on October 30, so it may not go to a jury.
If it does, their heads could explode in fiery confusion.
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