Superman stays at Warner and DC

Late this week this sweet sauce news was announce:

F_cken Epic Win News for both DC and Warner Bros. Superman stays with them.

http://news.yahoo.com/warner-wins-legal-victory-control-004235586.html;_ylt=A2KJjanOmPFQrVYAtSzQtDMD

Warner wins legal victory for control of Superman
Warner Bros. wins big legal victory in battle for complete commercial control of Superman
By Paul Elias, Associated Press | Associated Press – Fri, Jan 11, 2013Email 0Share Tweet0Share0Print

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Superman belongs to Warner Bros., according to the latest legal victory granting the film and television studio complete commercial control of the lucrative Superman franchise.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals unanimously ruled Thursday that the heirs of Superman's co-creator Jerome Siegel must abide by a 2001 letter written by the family's attorney accepting Warner Bros.' offer for their 50 percent share of Superman. Though the five-page letter was never formalized into a contract, the appeals court said it was still binding.

"Statements from the attorneys for both parties establish that the parties had undertaken years of negotiations, that they had resolved the last outstanding point in the deal during a conversation on Oct. 15, 2001, and that the letter accurately reflected the material terms they had orally agreed to on that day," Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote for the panel.

The ruling Thursday undoes a 2008 trial court decision ordering Warner Bros. to share an undetermined amount of money earned since 1999 with the heirs, and to give the family control of key components of the Superman story, including his costume. If that decision were to stand, the studio would have had to negotiate a new costly royalty agreement with the family.

"The court's decision paves the way for the Siegel finally to receive the compensation they negotiated for and which DC has been prepared to pay for over a decade," Warner Bros. said in a prepared statement, referring to its DC Comics division. "We are extremely pleased that Superman's adventures can continue to be enjoyed across all media platforms worldwide for generations to come."

The family's attorney, Marc Toberoff, didn't respond to a request for comment.

Toberoff said earlier that he would appeal another significant Warner Bros. victory won in October involving the family of Superman's other creator, Joseph Shuster, and their bid for half the commercial rights. Toberoff also represents the Shuster heirs, who lost their bid to retain a 50 percent share of Superman.

A federal judge in Los Angeles had ruled that Shuster's sister and brother relinquished any chance to reclaim Superman copyrights in exchange for annual pension payments from DC Comics. U.S. District Judge Otis Wright noted in that case that the families of both creators have been paid in excess of $4 million since 1978, plus undefined bonuses and medical benefits.

In April, the $412 check that DC Comics wrote in 1938 to acquire Superman and other creative works by Shuster and Siegel sold for $160,000 in an online auction.

So happy...can you imagine the family taking over? They would sell Superman To Disney....brrr!!! just the thought sickens me.

All Hail DC and Warner!

(p.s. Pr you should keep up with this news! This is your forum now I pass it on to you. Don't me come down there to Canuck land and spank you!)

We were actually talking about this already in another thread. shrug

Got it...I let you off this time.....this time...

http://www.deadline.com/2013/11/warner-bros-wins-last-piece-of-superman-copyright-case/

http://www-deadline-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/superman-warner-bros-ninth-circuit__131121205558.pdf

It appears as though the never-ending battle over the ownership rights to Superman may actually finally be over, with Warner Bros. successfully defending an appeal in court today.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today handed the studio another legal win in their battle with the estates of the Man of Steel's co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster – and they did it with some degree of humor. "In this appeal, we address another chapter in the long-running saga regarding the ownership of copyrights in Superman - a story almost as old as the Man of Steel himself," said the court's memorandum today reaffirming an earlier ruling for WB by district Judge Otis Wright III.
"We are obviously very pleased with the court's decision," said a WB spokesperson in an understatement today.

Warner Bros. now legally owns Superman, with rights affirmed against any possible heirs or challengers.

Its finally over.

I don't know what to feel about it. We've all seen DC & Marvel - like any major corporation - get very ruthless in defending what they believe to be their property, and some creators bemoan their rights constantly and go as far as quit working for the big two altogether, like Alan Moore. Is it justice? We never know the whole story.

This was special because Superman is a hugely significant property with a long history, unlike cult characters like Miracleman and Angela. He was still going to get published, no matter if he left the DC Universe.

Originally posted by roughrider
I don't know what to feel about it. We've all seen DC & Marvel - like any major corporation - get very ruthless in defending what they believe to be their property, and some creators bemoan their rights constantly and go as far as quit working for the big two altogether, like Alan Moore. Is it justice? We never know the whole story.

This was special because Superman is a hugely significant property with a long history, unlike cult characters like Miracleman and Angela. He was still going to get published, no matter if he left the DC Universe.

Stating the obvious, money is god.

They don't think they own their property, they usually DO own it. Creatives sell it to them, for a chance of making it big (Plus to pay the bills.)

In a perfect world, creatives would be the primary beneficiaries of their own ideas, but they're not, because they need to eat. (And I'm not lecturing here... This is a fact of life I'm not exactly too happy with, but it is reality..)

Yep! There is people who is creative and then there is people who knows how to make money.

If the creative person does not want anyone involved in his intellectual property, then the person has to take the long tedious road of trial and error in business.

Like Mc-Farland did with Spawn

Marvel recently finished off with Mike Friedrich, saying they owe him nothing more for co-creating Ghost Rider in the 1970's. Other than that, they had to waive off the relatives of Jack Kirby on occasion, and the last decade even had to deal with Stan Lee! ( At the prodding of Howard Stern, he launched what was called 'the nicest lawsuit in the world.'😉 Len Wein, who created Wolverine the 1970's, once said of getting thanked & his hand shook by Hugh Jackman at the X-Men movie premiere - "I'd would've preferred he gave me a cheque." Ouch.

But for the most part, Marvel has handled the creator ownership problem by first creating Epic Comics in the 1980's, then Icon Comics after that. And we know the creators own them, because several properties - Dreadstar, Alien Legion, Marshal Law - have been published by other companies without any lawsuits. That's one thing I've never seen out of DC/Vertigo comics - the freedom to take the property elsewhere, somewhere down the line. DC seems to own it. Has anyone ever seen it happen there?

Wasn't Image started because a bunch of creators got mad at Marvel for not letting them own their own stuff?

They're not exactly saints in that department, imo.

Originally posted by -Pr-
Wasn't Image started because a bunch of creators got mad at Marvel for not letting them own their own stuff?

They're not exactly saints in that department, imo.

Yes, true. And only Todd McFarlane has stayed with the company, with all the other creators - Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Erik Larsen, Marc Silvestri - having drifted back to the big two. Ironically, McFarlane found himself playing evil corporation in court, fighting Neil Gaiman over ownership of Angela. (Plus, he was dumb enough to spend millions on Mark McGwire's home run ball from 1998... 😛 )

Mike Mignola has true independence, as well. Once he created Hellboy for Dark Horse, he's never had to return to the big two. And there's been two movies, compared to one for McFarlane's Spawn.

At this point the only way this story would read would be "Family threatens to take back to Superman Franchise....Family mysteriously disappears ...WB has no comment"

F*ck DC Comics.