Cartoonist Fighting Newspaper For His Sketches–Too Bad He's Got No Reason to Expect Them

Poor Brian Duffy, it sucks to hear that another newspaper fired a cartoonist, but when you're an employee, everything you make belongs to the people who sign the checks, as if you were merely an extra pair of hands for the boss. That's Graphic Artists Guild 101. Once when I was Guild president I got a call from a super-famous cartoonist's representative who wondered why his client couldn't have the twenty years worth of cartoons he did for Playboy back. Did he sign a Work for Hire agreement? Yes, but... He can't do anything because all those cartoons belong to Hef. Legally, Hef's the author.

Also, I don't know if channel 8 should know better, but sketches and original cartoons are two different things. Sketches usually refer to preliminary drawings. Cartoonist Fighting Newspaper For His Sketches - Entertainment News Story - KCCI Des Moines