Disney/Marvel Facing Copyright Lawsuit

Published on September 21, 2009 by Craig Sharp · View Comments

It appears that Walt Disney’s $4 billion purchase of Marvel Entertainment might come with more than it’s fair share of headaches, 45 in fact.

The heirs of Jack Kirby, forward thinking comic book artist and co-creator of many Marvel tentpole properties including X-Men, Fantastic Four have sent 45 notices of copyright termination to Marvel and Disney, as well as Marvel distributors and studios Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, and other companies that have been using the characters.

The notices served have indicated Kirby’s families’ intentions to regain copyrights over the late artist’s creations by as early as 2014, according to the law firm behind the recent “Superman” rights battle – Toberoff & Associates.

Referring once again to Disney’s recent $4 billion acquisition – shouldn’t this put a massive dent in Disney’s financial forecast? Well, according to the New York times, neither Toberoff nor Marvel commented on the news, however Disney said in a statement:

“the notices involved are an attempt to terminate rights 7 to 10 years from now, and involve claims that were fully considered in the acquisition.”

No other studio was available for comment.

The news further highlights the financial potential in Comic book properties. In 2008 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. entered into a long running copyright dispute over the movie rights to Watchmen, and of course the heirs of Superman creator Jerry Siegel recently won a lawsuit against DC Comics and Warner Bros. which will preclude them from using certain elements of the Supes mythology such as the character’s homeworld of Krypton.

With such a small pool of comic book properties left for film, and with most already tied up as studios, it may well be that further lawsuits will be the only way to free up room for ambitious studios and artists to get there cut. In truth we’ll just have to wait and see won’t we?