Quote from: Richard on Today at 05:50:43 PMdo you need to get a new model release form every time?
If the contract existed with a company that's no longer a legal entity, or no longer the holder of the rights to the material, then it's possible that the contract itself might be void. Obviously, I'm not a lawyer, but if there's even a question mark on that score, given the very limited audience for this material, I could see why any potential publisher would give it a miss.
No one wants to get tied up in a legal mess over material that's never going to yield more than a marginal profit, at best...
EDIT TO ADD: Also, IPC/Fleetway were pretty rubbish about issuing contract/release forms to dot the 'T's and cross the 'I's on this stuff. See: the Zenith/Hilary Robinson messes.
(Also, not a high value property, and neither Kev nor I would ever make a fuss about it, but we were told '"The Inspectre" is a Dredd series so you don't own the rights to it.' I'm not sure that would stand up in court without a piece of paper with our signatures on the bottom. Like I said, their legal department was pretty rubbish—Games Workshop certainly made sure we'd signed over our rights on penalty of the forfeiture of our immortal souls.)