The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman is getting sued over the property

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

How is this for some THE WALKING DEAD news, as the show prepares to come back on air this Sunday; Robert Kirkman who was part of the creative process for show as well as the original comic is being sued by his collaborator (and childhood friend) Tony Moore!

The claim is that Moore is entitled to perhaps as much as half of the proceeds from the property. THR is stating that: Moore says he was duped into assigning his interest in the material over to Kirkman, who has since gone on to fame and fortune. Moore, on the other hand, has received very little compensation and has not be able to access profit statements from properties including Walking Dead, he says.

“Each of these works was prepared by [Moore] and Kirkman with the intention that their contributions be merged into inseparable or independent parts of a unitary whole,” the complaint states. “[Moore] and Kirkman were thus joint authors and co-owners of the copyrights in these works.”

Moore claims that in 2005, Kirkman and his agents devised a scheme to fraudulently induce him to assign his copyright interests over to Kirkman’s company. Moore, who grew up with Kirkman and worked together on several projects, claims he signed a deal granting him 60 percent of “Comic Publishing Net Proceeds” in connection with Walking Dead and another project called Brit; 20 percent of “motion picture net proceeds” in connection with Walking Dead and Brit; and 50 percent of “motion picture net proceeds” from another project called Battle Pope.

This is all quite the claim, Moore even states that back in 2005 Kirkman had told him that there was a TV deal in place but that if he didn’t assign all of his interest in the property and other works the deal wouldn’t be able to get completed. Since Moore thought this would fall apart, he signed the contract as Kirkman had asked, which he says was a swindle by Kirkman.

Allen Grodzky, Kirkman’s attorney told THR that: “totally frivolous. Mr. Moore is owed no money at all. And Mr. Moore’s contract has an attorneys’ fees clause in it so we will be going after him to collect attorneys’ fees. We are taking this matter very seriously.”

What does this mean for the comic and TV series? No idea for now, but we shall keep our eyes pealed for more news.