EDIT- I was alerted by a unspecified person to this issue who provided me no information other than what was found in public Livejournal blogs. The sensitive information was provided by an unnamed source that has in fact never been mentioned in this article.

At this point anyone with an internet connection can in fact download the majority of new comics coming out on Wednesdays if not all of them. This has in fact been going on for a few years but people still do go to shops every week (or however you get your comics) and plunk down money for their favorite books, merch and what-have-you . Why do they do this if you can get them for free? People like paying for their books and supporting the medium they love, it’s that simple. People understand that if they don’t buy their favorite book with their favorite artists, writers, and characters they might not be on the shelf next month (though sometimes low book sales on fan faves can still lead to cancellation, no matter how much fans try to help promote their books). True, some do in fact download comics and do not in fact pay for them (and then go on the internet to complain about said downloaded comic), but I honestly can’t think of any way to stop them as do the companies producing the books (though Marvel may in fact be working on something legally actionable considering their Digital Comics). With that, nothing has been done by any companies (that I’m aware of) to stem the tide of new books available on torrent sites across the internet.

I was informed by a Livejournal user by the name of (name removed upon request) that Marvel has in fact decided to now force Livejournal to not only remove scans_daily (that posts fractions of comics), they have now decided to go after individual members who’ve posted Marvel Comics pages via this document-

The Livejournal notice-

From: LiveJournal Abuse Team <abuse@livejournal.com>

Subject: Your LiveJournal Account

Dear user (Name withheld to protect the user),

We have received a report, properly formatted under the provisions set forth by United States law, indicating that your entry located at (entry removed to protect the user) violates the copyright of another. As such, we have disabled access to this material. Below my signature, I have enclosed a copy of the original copyright infringement complaint for your reference.

If you feel that this report is in error or that your use of the material falls under one of the categories permitted under copyright law, you are entitled to file a counter-notification, also under the provisions of US law; please contact us for information on how to do this. Filing a counter-notification indicates that you are willing to defend yourself in court against a charge of copyright infringement, and you may be bound by civil and possibly criminal penalties if you are found liable.

Regards,

Annika

LiveJournal Abuse Prevention Team

NOTICE: This correspondence contains confidential information. Posting this information to LiveJournal is a Terms of Service violation. Any reproduction of this correspondence on LiveJournal, with or without this notice of protection, may be grounds for the immediate suspension of the account or accounts used to do so, as well as the account or accounts to which this correspondence is sent.

And the Marvel Copyright notice-

=== BEGIN COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT NOTICE ===

Copyright Agent

c/o LiveJournal, Inc.

576 Folsom Street, Third Floor

San Francisco, California 94105

To Whom it May Concern

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (“Marvel”) is a character-based entertainment company with a proprietary library of over 5,000 characters. Marvel owns or controls the copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights in and to the following publications and characters featured in such publications: Spider-Man, Thor, Silver Surfer, The Avengers, X-Men, Exiles, Captain America, The Hulk, X-Factor, Runaways and Fantastic Four among others.

The Live Journal blog Scans_Daily: http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/ contains images that infringe Marvel’s copyrights and trademarks. The website continually posts images of Marvel’s comic books on a daily basis and frequently posts significant portions of new comic books released that very week. These unauthorized reproductions of Marvel’s comic book publications are not approved by Marvel. The following are several examples of

misuse: (examples removed to protect user or users)

Please direct all correspondence to:

Gregory Pan, Legal Affairs

Marvel Entertainment, Inc.

417 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10016

I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted material described above on the allegedly infringing web pages and the linked

pages on these pages is not authorized by Marvel, its agent or the law.

I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Please act expeditiously to contact the owner of the material identified

and contact me if you have any questions.

Marvel reserves the right to take all available remedies available at

law and in equity to protect its interests, and nothing in this letter

shall be construed as a waiver or relinquishment of any rights or

remedies available to it.

Sincerely,

Gregory Pan

=== END COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT NOTICE ===

Please note some portions of this document have been edited to protect the Livejournal user’s anonymity. The remaining document is whole sans the user’s info.

I find it interesting that the letter from Lj in fact states the notice regarding loss of one’s Lj account should it be posted upon Livejournal it’s self. It seems that it’s only being presented as a warning or slap on the hand, but who’s to say that some may in fact loose their feeds altogether?

Now, scans daily has a number of creators reading the Lj feeds (including Warren Ellis and Gail Simone to name a couple) who are aware of material being posted (sometimes their own) and some have even posted scans from comics as well. Those that do work in the industry have a decent relationship with other fan members and usually work things out in a polite matter (unlike the persons involved in the latest fiasco) if problems do arise.

The site it’s self has a number of rules and moderation, one of the major rules being only a certain number of pages from a single comic (11 pages, half a comic max). I personally think it’s a bit much, and clearly Marvel feels the same way regarding any number of pages (though I’ve seen 8 page previews straight from Marvel on many different sites). Also, it’s interesting to note that no one at DC has gone on record anywhere either being for scans_daily or against it. As I said previously, some creative types working in comics are also members, and for the most part things are usually civil and said creators interact with fans as their works get boosted by readers of the feed.

Personally, scans_daily was a great source of amusement (out of context panels from older comics) and also swayed my new comic buying habits at times (IE seeing certain pages that pleased me as a reader I’d then go pick the issue up). Legally, Marvel’s in the right here (though I’m not even an armchair lawyer so I could be wrong) as they don’t want to give their comics away for free (as they see it) even if it’s only a portion of a comic. I understand their reasoning, though I don’t necessarily agree with it or seeing it stopping similar sites from popping up (as some new Livejournal feeds and Insanejournal are already doing currently. Perhaps Marvel rather than leaning on Lj and users of the blogs should in fact work with someone directly (IE a scans_daily moderator) providing them with legal preview scans, or perhaps even create their own Lj blog providing preview pages (allowing them to monitor posts and ensure creators works are not in fact spoiled). I also understand on their end (though it’s not been said expressly) that with their Digital Comics subscriptions (featuring older works that they now offer) it could be viewed as potentially damaging to sales of said subscriptions (though I don’t see it that way myself).

No one creator working for any company wants their stories and work spoiled (that’s what started this mess in the first place), but unfortunately there’s bad apples in the bucket that are going to find a way to do what they want regardless. If I made a painting and someone gave it away you bet I wouldn’t be pleased either (unless they paid for it to begin with, then they could eat the damn thing for all I care). I think scans_daily does in fact add to the comic experience (from interacting with other fans) and also can boost sales of certain books. I myself am in fact “guilty” of posting pages from a Marvel comic on scans_daily years ago when I posted pages and select panels from Chuck Norris’ Karate Kommandoes #1 illustrated by Steve Ditko (it’s awesome and you can most likely find all four issues in quarter bins across America). Does this mean I may in fact get leaned on by Marvel and possibly lose my Livejournal account I’ve had for years? I certainly hope not! I can only hope some kind of resolution can come about without the loss of Lj users.