COMICON.com Pulse, Newsarama and ICv2, are reporting that a verdict has been reached in the trial. From ICv2:
The jury held that:
Gaiman has a copyright interest in Medieval Spawn, Cagliostro, and Angela, the three characters he created in his script for Spawn #9.
A reasonable person would not have deduced from the copyright notices in the books that McFarlane was claiming copyright ownership in the characters and the scripts (meaning that the statue of limitations had not expired on the copyright claims).
There was a contract in 1992 (when McFarlane promised that he would treat Gaiman “better than the big guys”).
McFarlane breached the 1992 contract.
There was a contract in 1997 (this was the rights swap of Gaiman’s interests in Medieval Spawn and Cagliostro for McFarlane’s interest in Miracleman, plus setting royalty percentages for all uses of Angela and allowing Gaiman uses of Medieval Spawn and Cagliostro in “one-off” projects.
Image’s failure to identify Gaiman as a writer on some of the books in question caused damage.
Image had no right to use Gaiman’s name and biography without his permission on its recent reprint of the Angela series in trade paperback format.
Damages are next to be determined. No mention has been made as of yet whether or not the verdicts will be appealed.
