Billion at Stake? Judge returns “Superman” Copyright to Creator’s Heirs
Saturday, March 29th, 2008
“Superman” rights originally sold in 1939 for $130
By Matthew B. Zeidman
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Today) 3/29/08 – Time Warner Inc. and its subsidiary, Warner Bros. Entertainment, were dealt a blow worthy of Superman Wednesday, when a federal judge restored partial copyright ownership of the comic-book hero to the heirs of one of his creators, Jerome Siegel.
The late cartoonist’s estate will be entitled to a yet-undetermined amount of domestic profits from Superman endeavors since 1999, but a later trial will determine if that includes the recently resurrected Warner Bros. movie franchise and other on-screen appearances or only the series of comic books.
Siegel created Superman with his partner, Joe Shuster, in 1932, and sold the rights to Detective Comics (later renamed DC Comics) in 1938 for $130 and a contract to provide the company with future material. Siegel, Shuster and their heirs have been fighting with DC and its subsequent parent company, Warner Bros., since 1947 to reclaim the rights to Superman and similar character Superboy. Several changes to copyright law enacted by Congress over the past several decades have fueled the creators’ long legal fight.
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