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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/business/media/disney-wins-marvel-comics-copyright-case.html?_r=1&
Judge Colleen McMahon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a summary judgment a week or so ago to Marvel Entertainment and the Walt Disney Company in the ongoing legal dispute between Marvel and the children of artist / writer Jack Kirby, who created many of Marvel's most iconic characters, including, as no doubt everyone here knows, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and the Incredible Hulk.
Kirby's work was work-for-hire. Everything he did was wholly owned by Marvel Comics, and if they chose to never give him a share of the very expansive profits his creations generated for them, they were fully within their rights by law.
Work-for-hire is supposed to be an arrangement where in return for relinquishing all rights to the work, the creator gets substantial benefits -- extra high pay, say, or health insurance or steady employment.
But it does mean that the employer is not obliged to give the creator anything else, ever, and owns the work and its copyrights.
I would recommend that anyone doing graphic or design work make sure that the contract is clear about whether the work is work for hire or not.