Copyright question: who owns the Scythe?

[kaan]

This has been bugging me for some reason.

The Scythe is growing ever more important in Buffy mythology and it could be argued it is the iconic weapon of the franchise. But who owns it?

It first appeared in the Fray comic books, which is copyrighted to Joss. But then it appeared on Buffy which is owned by Fox. And is now in the Buffy comics which are owned by Fox. Any copyright experts out there?

Let say, (hypothetically ), I was to write and print a comic about a shadowy group of women in ancient times who are forging a weapon of power for a young girl who fights monsters to wield. Who's lawyers are gonna be knocking on my door: Fox or Joss'?

[AndrewCrossett]

The Scythe itself wasn't created by Joss, but was based on a souvenir prop he found somewhere.

I would guess that it's not copyrighted at all. But of course, it's specific history and story within the Buffyverse is copyrighted. Fox would own the story you mentioned, since that was revealed on the TV show.

[kaan]

Thanks for the info. It was just one of those things that got stuck in my head.

Your probably right about it not being copyrighted. After all it is just a "real cool axe-thing."

[Skytteflickan88]

In Sweden our copyrules says, if I'm not misstaken, that for a work of art, which I suppose one could count the scythe from the show, has to be remarkable, or "original" enough to be copyrighted. And I doubt if the schyte is original enough, because it's pretty much just a cool axe with a pointy wooden end, based on a another prop.

Not sure what US rules says...