Which means, legally, the heirs of Kirby weren't owed anything.


My feeling about this -- and I acknowledge that it might be interpreted as somewhat contradictory -- is that if there is a legal mechanism for heirs to reclaim all or part of the copyright, I take no issue with that. (That isn't how or why the law was devised --that's just how it works out, at least under certain circumstances.) And I think an acknowledgement and formal assignment of credit is very much past due. But in terms of financial remuneration, I don't think a creator's heirs are due anything similar to, say, what Siegel and Shuster were granted.

Even a successful claim on copyright doesn't mean it will be granted in perpetuity.

In The Back Of Beyond: My photography blog. Everything seen through the camera of my iPhone.