“DC reserves all rights and will take such action as DC deems necessary or appropriate to protect its intellectual property rights.”

Days after Fables author Bill Willingham—whose work was adapted into Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us—announced he had thrust the series into the public domain as a form of “asymmetric warfare” against DC Comics, the publisher has proclaimed that it still very much owns the rights.

“The Fables comic books and graphic novels published by DC, and the storylines, characters, and elements therein, are owned by DC and protected under the copyright laws of the United States and throughout the world in accordance with applicable law and are not in the public domain,” a statement sent to IGN reads. “DC reserves all rights and will take such action as DC deems necessary or appropriate to protect its intellectual property rights.”

DC’s statement stands in direct opposition to two Substack posts Willingham has published over the last few days. The first, which included the initial announcement that he had decided to offer up the series to the public domain, took multiple stabs at DC’s treatment of Fables as well as a few choice mentions towards Telltale Games and its adaptation.

A follow-up post divulged a few more details, such as negotiations where Willingham claims that DC “reinterpreted [their] contracts to assume they owned Fables outright,” something which he claims was less of a mistake and more that the publisher “tried to get away with something and then retreated once it didn’t work.”

  • Computerchairgeneral
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    171 year ago

    Not surprising that DC is pushing back on this, although I’m not sure if there is anything they can do if Willingham is right and he can put his characters and world in the public domain. Although I suppose they could just send out cease-and-desist notices to anyone trying to use the property and hope no one challenges it.

    • @[email protected]
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      81 year ago

      The original run was creator-owned so he has the right to release it to the public however I am not sure about it now as fables continued on under DC Black Label.