In comic books, the good guys are usually the ones in tights — red and blue are the most popular colors — who put themselves in harm’s way to save innocent lives, while the bad guys are the ones sulking in darkened lairs and dreaming up plans to take over the planet. In real-world legal battles over the intellectual property in comic books, the two sides aren’t as easy to distinguish, and they’re certainly not as colorful. But as the IP rights to comic book icons become the subject of ever more heated — and lengthy — disputes, maybe it’s time that superhero litigation got its own comic book series.
The litigation of recent months alone would fill a couple of issues. In July author Neil Gaiman won a fight over the Spawn comic book characters Dark Ages Spawn, Domina, and Tiffany when a federal district court judge in Wisconsin ruled that all three derived from other Spawn characters that Gaiman had cocreated — and that had already been the subject of a jury trial and appellate decision more than six years ago. In January, Marvel Entertainment LLC filed suit in New York federal district court against the heirs of illustrator Jack Kirby after they claimed the right to regain partial ownership of some of the comic company’s most popular characters, including the X-Men and the Incredible Hulk. And in May, the long-running copyright termination battle between Warner Bros. Entertainment’s DC Comics and heirs of Superman’s creators ratcheted up when the movie studio’s lawyers at O’Melveny & Myers filed a lawsuit accusing the heirs’ lawyer, Los Angeles – based Marc Toberoff, of contractual interference and scheming to gain control of Superman for his own enrichment.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
