Yeah, i have those strips too.
They own the copyright of their work and anything they created in that world. By the way, if you zip over to their webpage that everyone links to:
https://conan.com/ip.shtml
It's removed, in the place you get:
https://conan.com/about/ which then leads us to:
https://cabinetentertainment.com/our-licenses/conan/
This then reveals:
Global Publishing
Original Conan stories and derivative works have been translated and published continuously for decades in large parts of the world.
In 2018 Cabinet launched its own imprint Perilous Worlds, which will bring back select stories currently out of print as well as creating new, exciting adventures.
Conan is untamed, unchained, and ready for action!
CONAN, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, HYBORIA and related logos, characters, names and distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks or registered trademarks of Conan Properties International LLC. All rights reserved.
Basically... they lifted the original content, dusted it off then copyrighted their own take on things.
They then started going after people:
https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20180817g27
For the foregoing reasons, plaintiff CPI is awarded $3,000 in statutory damages and plaintiff JEH is awarded $18,000 in statutory damages. Sanchez is permanently enjoined from unlawfully manufacturing, selling, or publicly displaying characters that infringe on plaintiffs' copyrights and trademarks.
Not everyone is happy though, Stan Lee Media Inc. sued CPI claiming that Conan is theirs:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-e ... ter-225865
^-- Reality is, SLMI went bankrupt and Conan license was then sold off to CPI, illegally by an unauthorized agent. Judge disagreed and said it was legal, so SLMI lost and CPI won. CPI is now forcefully going after anyone who uses their IP.
In another twist... CPI even went after a non-profit organisation that was making audio recordings of Robert's public domain work.
https://boingboing.net/2009/02/25/conan ... -trol.html
'Broken Sea Audio Productions, headquartered in New Zealand, has shut down all their Robert E. Howard projects after receiving another threatening letter from the lawyers for Conan Properties International LLC (aka Paradox Entertainment).
CPI is the limited liability company that claims all licensing powers over works by Robert E. Howard worldwide.'
"CPI says that since Broken Sea's productions reach countries where these stories are not in public domain (a doubtful claim in itself) they have to remove all Conan material from their site.
Under this logic, any country could hijack public domain from the rest of the world by just claiming a copyright never expires and could also claim fair use does not exist. 'Take that etching of Charles Dickens off your website.' could be the new rule."
It seems that the crux is... there are some countries that do not have "Public Domain" like France and others where the copyright never expires, if that IP is then used there, then it shows up on CPI's radar and they will litigate.
So while Robert's work is under the Public Domain now, at least in the United States... PD doesn't exist in other places which gives CPI a way to lean on people for using anything related to Conan. Which is a pity for those wanting to make non-profit content based on Robert's work.
I guess we can scratch this.