Neil Gaiman has won, apparently once and for all, his legal dispute with Todd McFarlane. The details of the dispute can be learned here and if you have some Adobe product installed on your computer and want to read a PDF file with the decision, here it is.
I like Neil and respect him greatly, not just for pursuing the matter but for doing so as a matter of principle over profit. I also like the principle being defended, which is that a publisher must honor agreements. It's sad that you sometimes have to go to court and run up legal bills to make that happen….so I'm glad that Neil had the courage, and maybe also that he had the money. I've seen writers horribly, admittedly wronged by publishers and producers who knew that the writer couldn't afford a good attorney.
I've never worked with Todd on anything but we've had very pleasant encounters over the years. Ergo, I have no reason to rejoice in his loss or to presume that this is how he always does business. I'd like to believe it isn't. I just enjoy the thought that maybe, just maybe, this decision will cause some publisher somewhere to decide cheating the talent might not be cost-effective.