‘Death Dealer’ Images in Coffee-Table Book Infringe Copyrights

An art and comic publisher infringed the copyrights of two “Death Dealer” visual works by artist Frank Frazetta by using them in a coffee table book about Frazetta works used in 1980s book covers, a Florida federal judge ruled.

Vanguard Prods. LLC’s use of the images in “Frazetta Book Cover Art” wasn’t covered by a prior license for a different book and wasn’t fair use, the District Judge William F. Jung said. The images, used on the covers of two editions in author James Silke’s Death Dealer series, took up two entire pages and essentially served the same purpose as ...