All I know is what I read in the interviews - and it didn't sound all that nice until long after the deal was done. Actually it was one of the nastiest exchanges I've seen in 20 years of comic book collecting.
My guess? Whedon and Dark Horse realized they had to smooth a few feathers - because they really did look like royal asswipes in the industry trades. And the comic industry is a small town. That's the inside joke of "It happened, let's agree to stop whining about it." ;-)
And IDW's got the rights to reprint all their Angel stuff forever (which is unheard of, when it comes to licensed property),
No, that's not true. I think you may be confusing the right to use characters and the universe to create your own story with syndication rights. Two different things. Yes, syndication rights have an expiration date as does the right to create new stories with someone else's characters and universe. (Basically legal fanfiction for commericial purposes). BUT - the "fanfiction" or "original fictional content" that you created during that period using those characters and universe remains your property to do with as you will. Yes, you still have to pay a "royalty" to the original rights holder - but they can't stop you from continuing to sell and reprint the issues (they'd have to be a complete idiot to want to - since, hello, ROYALTY!). You can resell and reprint old issues (although that's expensive and people usually don't) but you can't create new ones.
Keep in mind Joss Whedon does not hold the copyright to anything. Fox holds the copyright to the characters, etc in the TV series. The Kuzies up until recently held the copyright in the Movie. But Whedon does have some sway with Fox and appears to be in a perpetual partnership with them.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-05-13 12:28 pm (UTC)My guess? Whedon and Dark Horse realized they had to smooth a few feathers - because they really did look like royal asswipes in the industry trades. And the comic industry is a small town. That's the inside joke of "It happened, let's agree to stop whining about it." ;-)
And IDW's got the rights to reprint all their Angel stuff forever (which is unheard of, when it comes to licensed property),
No, that's not true. I think you may be confusing the right to use characters and the universe to create your own story with syndication rights. Two different things. Yes, syndication rights have an expiration date as does the right to create new stories with someone else's characters and universe. (Basically legal fanfiction for commericial purposes). BUT - the "fanfiction" or "original fictional content" that you created during that period using those characters and universe remains your property to do with as you will. Yes, you still have to pay a "royalty" to the original rights holder - but they can't stop you from continuing to sell and reprint the issues (they'd have to be a complete idiot to want to - since, hello, ROYALTY!). You can resell and reprint old issues (although that's expensive and people usually don't)
but you can't create new ones.
Keep in mind Joss Whedon does not hold the copyright to anything. Fox holds the copyright to the characters, etc in the TV series. The Kuzies up until recently held the copyright in the Movie. But Whedon does have some sway with Fox and appears to be in a perpetual partnership with them.