Crabtree was the colorist on the first 50 issues of Invincible, and he claims that he is a co-creator of the series, while Kirkman says that Crabtree’s contribution was work for hire, and that Kirkman is the sole author.
While the judge in the federal case had ruled against two of Crabtree's claims, the claims that the Certificate of Authorship that Crabtree had signed was invalid, and that Kirkman had breached an oral contract, were to be resolved at trial (see "Kirkman and Crabtree Cleared To Go to Trial").
