Yeah but on its face, work-for-hire was a way for a corporation to take advantage of young artists and was done away with. If there was nothing wrong with it, why did Marvel stop doing it as it mentions in the article?
Also, say he did one job for them and ONLY after submitting his work and getting the check did he see the fine print on the back of the check...how the hell is that right?
I agree with you. Firstly, Marvel probably stopped doing it because too many artists objected.
The man has to eat. If he gets a check, he needs to cash it so he can buy food and pay his lodging and other bills. Is he NOT going to cash it out of principle? He can't afford to do that and live. Cash the check or die, or find another job.
As far as I'm concerned, Marvel artists should be paid for drawing Marvel characters, because that is what they are there for. If they invent a new character, it wasn't a Marvel character before it was invented, and so it shouldn't be after the artist draws it. If he draws a new character on company time, to me, he isn't doing his job. He is doing a different job.
If Marvel wants to hire someone just to invent characters, that is different.
If an artist creates a character, it should be his. We are assuming it was on his coffee break or something. If Marvel says he used their resources to make it, he can pay them for the paper, pens, pencils, and whatever else he used. If he did it on Marvel's time, then he was simply goofing off, not doing his job, no different than someone drawing GI JOE when they should be doing their math assignment in math class. If Marvel wants to own a character created by one of their artists, they can make the artist an offer, and if the artist accepts, he will sell it to Marvel, or maybe license it to them.
We are talking about right and wrong here, and not just the law, because if the law isn't based upon fairness, then it is based upon might makes right, which is nothing more than people doing whatever they can get away with, moral ramifications be damned. In that case, if a law is enforced by the U.S. government, then the U.S. government is nothing better than being the people with the most guns. That's not justice, because it isn't right. I realize we have a legal system CALLED the Justice System, but that doesn't mean it is, and if it isn't, it is nothing more than might makes right, boiling down to anyone doing whatever they want just because they can.
