That's an interesting question. Dracula and Frankenstein are characters created in the 19th century so it would seem obvious that they have slipped into the public domain by now but there is the factor that the "Universal Monsters" established a particular look for the characters that was not clarified in the novels. A lawyer, and one specializing in copyright law, would have to sort that out.
I would think "The Wolfman" is under copyright because that is a distinct name (?) but not werewolves in general. "The Mummy" might be too general in appearance, a dead guy wrapped in cloth strips, but the Brendan Fraser movie from about 20 years ago might have had to have reached an agreement with a license holder.
"The Creature from the Black Lagoon" was not based on a previous novel and may be an original creation by Universal so I would think that is certainly still under copyright.
Jess
quote:
Originally posted by webjon: Did the Universal Monsters fall in to public domain, or ?
Posts: 4643 | Location: San Jose, CA, USA | Registered: December 23, 2002
[QUOTE]Originally posted by catskilleagle: . . . but there is the factor that the "Universal Monsters" established a particular look for the characters that was not clarified in the novels. A lawyer, and one specializing in copyright law, would have to sort that out.
"The Creature from the Black Lagoon" was not based on a previous novel and may be an original creation by Universal so I would think that is certainly still under copyright.
Jess
Jess, I think you had it right when you said "particular look". These Retro Monsters don't have the look of the Universal Monsters, although they are supposed to have a similar name and its obvious who they are. I would imagine that its not so much a public domain thing, as it is that the Monster is not copied according to the licensed image.
The "Gill Man" pictured is not the same creation as The Creature From the Black Lagoon. Dracula and Frankenstein don't look like Lugosi or Karloff did. These are not redoes of the Universal Monsters, so I think that's how you get around any copyrights still in effect.
Same thing happened with the movie The Monster Squad. They had all the monsters, Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein, Mummy and Gill Man, but the makeup was similar, yet very different than in the Universal films. As long as you are not coping licensed creations, it becomes common ground. Anybody can draw a typical vampire or mummy without violating a license.
Posts: 10529 | Location: New York | Registered: November 20, 2007
There have been many versions of the Universal Studios monsters, these look extremely familiar to me.
Additionally I see other characters such as Death Dealer -- no clue if that character is in the public domain and also looking at several of the cards I see designs that look to me to be very similar to some Topps designs -- GPK for sure.
Posts: 5498 | Location: Parts Unknown. | Registered: January 25, 2001
