Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Hmmm... I just realized

If memory serves me correctly, Book of Fate #12 came out early in '98. AFIK, that was the last appearance of Amethyst... nearly seven years ago.

So. Is DC about to lose the trademark on Amethyst? Or is my A-R Amethyst collection missing an issue?

I'm pretty sure copyright protection is good for 25 years and can then be renewed after that. The character first appeared in the early 80's (don't remember exactly when), so she should still be protected under the original copyright for a few more years.

But trademark requires the character be used once every seven years, right? The story doesn't go into the public domain, but if someone else wanted to sell an Amethyst Princess of Gemworld who had a different story, DC couldn't stop them.

Maybe they're counting on nobody caring???

(Sorry... )

Yeah, that's what I'm figuring since only Keith Giffen has shown interest in writing Amy... I mean there are, what, five Amethyst fanboys out there?

You're #1 in OUR books!

Question: I never got Amethyst's relationship to Mordru and Mysa... Can you explain or is it gonna make my head hurt worse than the Summers family tree?

Mordru was the son of, IIRC, Prince Topaz - a former love interest of Amethyst's from before she became a Lord of Order. He was possessed by a Lord of Chaos called Mordru and went on some sort of reign of terror on Gemworld (which was later called the Sorcerer's World). Amethyst stopped him and entombed him in the ground (which set up his fear of enclosed spaces).

You probably know the basics of Mysa's interactions with Mordru - he was her teacher and, when she was supposed to graduate, he used his blood to make it appear that inside she was the evil Hag (of the Devil's Dozen fame).

As far as I can tell, there was no specific link Mysa had to Amethyst other than that Amethyst used Mysa as a vessel of vengeance against Mordru. But given Amethyst's demeanor, it's hard to imagine her as the vengeance-seeking type. But who knows how a being would react to having the planet that is a part of its being is utterly destroyed?

I'd hate to see Amethyst fall into comic limbo.... Maybe someone should start a 'bring back Amethyst' campaign?

oooh... how about an Amethyst mini-series.. with guest appearances by other DC characters that are close to losing their copyrights on...

That is why they did the Adam Strange mini, right?

Didn't they use the Gemworld in JSA not that long ago?

Copyrights run for a fixed term. When held by a company or someone other than the creator, they now run for 75 years after the date of a work's creation. Nobody else, until then, can legally publish that particular story or anything derived from it. No renewal, or even registration, is required.

"Amethyst," as a created character in her name and design, is a trademark. Registered trademarks have to have their registration renewed every 10 years, with proof of their having been used in commerce (here, in a published book or on merchandise).

"Amethyst" probably is not registered, but DC makes a claim to her nonetheless. They would have to show evidence of having used her every few years (not a fixed term) if they were ever challenged in civil court, or wanted to pursue a registration. Their past use would establish "priority" in such a claim.

Most claimed trademarks are not formally registered. DC has registered the phrase <font size="-2">LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES®</font s>, and the visual logos using that phrase, but not the individual Legion characters (except <font size="-2">SUPERBOY®</font s>), yet makes an unregistered-as-yet claim to all of their names and designs.

Ten years, that feels slightly better.

Personally, if not for the expense*, I'd be pushing for DC to reprint the original miniseries in digest form. Amethyst is one of the many titles DC has printed that could be an easy sell to the manga audience.

However, after reading the story a few years back, I realized that there's a lot of story packed in those 12 issues. A lot of interesting moments run by quickly because there isn't the time. I've been thinking it'd be cool to reboot Amethyst and retell the story with a whole lot more details. (Give Granch and his siblings a few issues of their own, for example.) Then publish that in digest form.

* Unfortunately Amethyst was published using a new printing technique that had enough problems that it quickly went out of use. Reprinting the series would require finding all the original art pages.

Yes. Part of the "Princes of Darkness" thing, I believe.

Flaw and Child both showed up during that.

Also, if Amethyst turned up in the recent DC Encyclopedia, that qualifies as a use of the character.

I'd rather she show up in a series. I remember when I first saw her in the preview insert in none other than an LSH comic. I loved watching Amy Winston grow into her role and then, later on, see her face off against the future Mordru in her second mini. I wasn't that fond of her Mysa possession, but I'd still like to see her again - maybe in a confrontation with 31st century Mordru.

Amethyst was the first comic I really got hooked on. I even dressed up like her for Haloween once.

I really hated what Giffen did to the ongoing series.