According to Reuters and The Hollywood Reporter, Gary Friedrich, who created the Marvel comic book character Ghost Rider (a.k.a. Johnny Blaze) in 1968, filed a 61-page lawsuit on April 4 against Marvel Enterprises, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, producers Relativity Media, Crystal Sky Pictures, Michael De Luca Prods., Hasbro Inc. and video game publisher Take-Two Interactive.

Friedrich alleges that the companies engaged in a "joint venture and conspiracy to exploit, profit from and utilize" his copyrights to the Ghost Rider character. The suit filed in federal court in Illinois claims 21 violations based on the production and marketing of the recent Ghost Rider movie (estimated to have grossed nearly $215 million) starring Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes. Friedrich said that the copyrights used in the film and in related products (such as Take-Two's video game) reverted from Marvel to him in 2001.

As reported in the Reuters story, "Friedrich alleges copyright infringement, and accuses Marvel of waste for failing 'to properly utilize and capitalize' on the Ghost Rider character. Marvel's attempts to do so, Friedrich claims, have only damaged the value of his work by failing to properly promote and protect the characters and by accepting inadequate royalties from co-defendants. Friedrich also claims that toymaker Hasbro and videogame firm Take-Two have improperly created merchandise based on the characters."

According to the complaint, Friedrich is seeking unspecified damages for claims of copyright infringement, violations of federal and Illinois state unfair competition laws, negligence, waste, tortuous interference with prospective business expectancy, misappropriation of characters, unauthorized use of the characters and false advertising and endorsement.