It’s been a busy day for Marvel with the company having to file five lawsuits seeking to block comic book creators and their heirs from regaining control to the copyrights to major characters such as Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.
The move comes after several Marvel authors heirs filed termination notices with the U.S. Copyright Office, seeking to end Marvel’s licenses to these hugely popular characters.
In the lawsuit, Marvel argues that the characters were created under the “work for hire” arrangements and that the heirs have no valid claim to the copyrights to the characters such as Spider-Man and more.
Marvel also points to a key case involving the great Jack Kirby, who co-created “The X-Men”, “Thor”, and “Iron Man”, in this case, Kirby’s heirs wanted to reclaim the copyrights to his creations, but the federal courts sided with Marvel, finding that the characters were made under the previously stated “work for hire” arrangements.
Marvel’s lawyers, led by Daniel Petrocelli say that these cases are “virtually identical” to the Jack Kirby case.
Marvel filed a suit against Lawrence D. Lieber, Patrick S. Ditko, Michelle Hart-Rico, and Buz Donato Rico III, Keith A. Dettwiler, and Nanci solo, and Erik Colan.
If Marvel/Disney somehow loses the lawsuits, they will not actually lose the characters, they will only lose full control of the characters, and will have to be co-owners with Ditko and co, they pretty much will have to share the profits.
Photo: Spider-Man No Way Home.
