Settlement reached in Marvel 'Ghost Rider' lawsuit

[September 10, 2013]  NEW YORK (AP) -- A writer has reached a settlement with comic book publisher Marvel Entertainment over claims he owns the rights to the Ghost Rider character.

The deal was revealed in a one-page court filing Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that said both sides had "amicably agreed to resolve all claims."

No information about the terms of the settlement was mentioned and the court case was not yet formally dismissed because the deal had not yet been executed, according to a letter to U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest. She suspended deadlines in the case.

Gary Friedrich had sued Marvel in 2007, saying he was owed a cut of the box office proceeds from a film version starring Nicolas Cage.

The comic features a motorcycle-riding character with a flaming skull named Johnny Blaze, who had agreed to let the devil have his soul in return for his adoptive father being cured of cancer.

The cover of the 1972 "Ghost Rider" debut says it was conceived and written by Friedrich. A lower court found Friedrich relinquished his rights in 1979, but an appeals court in June reversed the ruling.

Lawyers on both sides did not immediately return email messages seeking comment.

[Associated Press]

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