The Hergé Foundation, known in French as Moulinsart, and formerly known as Studios Hergé, is the official organization that looks after the world of Hergé and his creation The Adventures of Tintin, along with his other comics like Quick & Flupke and Jo, Zette and Jocko. Created from Studios Hergé in 1987 by Fanny Rodwell, Hergé's widow, the Hergé Foundation is a not-for-profit organization based in Brussels, the birthplace of the creator of Tintin. It runs Hergé's estate, the official Tintin website, and the Hergé museum.
Moulinsart
The name "Moulinsart" was chosen as the name for the foundation's commercial and copyright wing, set up to actively work to protect and promote the work of Hergé. It is named after Moulinsart, the château where Captain Haddock lives in the books (in English, "Moulinsart" is known as "Marlinspike").
Rights issue
The Hergé Foundation has frequently litigated against other entities that attempted to use Tintin images. However, after Moulinsart sued Dutch fanzineHergé Genootschap (Hergé Society) in 2012 for one million euros for publishing Tintin images without a license, a contract was unearthed whereby Hergé had assigned all the rights of his works to his original publisher Casterman in 1942. At no time has Fanny Rodwell, the widow and sole heir to the foundation, nor her husband Nick Rodwell, who manages the Tintin empire, ever challenged the agreement in the past. The court's decision means Moulinsart never owned the rights they have been asserting. "It appears, from a 1942 document... that Hergé gave publishing rights for the books of The Adventures of Tintin to publisher Casterman, so Moulinsart is not the one to decide who can use material from the books." said the Hague court's ruling. The document came from a Hergé expert who wishes to remain anonymous.
Georges Prosper Remi (French:[ʁəmi]; 22 May 1907– 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé ([ɛʁʒe]), was a Belgian cartoonist. He is best known for creating The Adventures of Tintin, the series of comic albums which are considered one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. He was also responsible for two other well-known series, Quick & Flupke (1930–40) and The Adventures of Jo, Zette and Jocko (1936–57). His works were executed in his distinct ligne claire drawing style.
Born to a lower middle-class family in Etterbeek, Brussels, Hergé began his career by contributing illustrations to Scouting magazines, developing his first comic series, The Adventures of Totor, for Le Boy-Scout Belge in 1926. Working for the conservative Catholic newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle, he created The Adventures of Tintin in 1929 at the advice of its editor Norbert Wallez. Revolving around the actions of boy reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy, the series' early installments –Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, Tintin in the Congo, and Tintin in America– were designed as conservative propaganda for children{cite refs}. Domestically successful, after serialisation the stories were published in book form, with Hergé continuing the series and also developing both the Quick & Flupke and Jo, Zette and Jocko series for Le Vingtième Siècle. Influenced by his friend Zhang Chongren, from 1934 Hergé placed far greater emphasis on conducting background research for his stories, resulting in increased realism from The Blue Lotus onward. Following the German occupation of Belgium in 1939, Le Vingtième Siècle was closed but Hergé continued his series in Le Soir, a popular newspaper controlled by the Nazi administration.
public domain ...Popeye and Tintin are just two on the list ... Image via HergéFoundation ... This is because EU copyright lasts 70 years after the creators’ deaths, and since Belgian cartoonist Hergé died in 1983, the public can only use Tintin in 2054.
Hergé gave him an inseparable canine companion called Snowy ... Allegedly because it contained copyrighted material owned by the Hergé Foundation, which is now being run by the second husband of Hergé’s widow and second wife.
