Marvel has filed a lawsuit to prevent the heirs of Stan Lee from selling their shares in the company. The lawsuit states that the estate’s plans would “irreparably harm” Marvel and its shareholders.
Marvel is suing to keep the rights of Iron Man, Spider-Man, Thor, and other Avengers characters from going to their heirs. Marvel has done this because they are afraid that these characters will be used in a way that could harm the brand.
Image courtesy of Marvel Studios
Following a series of termination letters, Disney’s attorneys are working hard to protect the media conglomerate’s ownership of major Avengers characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Thor.
The letters are being issued by heirs of famous comic creators such as Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, who are attempting to recover the rights to these profitable characters by using the termination clauses of copyright law. Given the stakes, it’s no wonder that Disney is trying everything possible to prevent this from occurring.
The Hollywood Reporter reports:
The lawsuits, acquired by The Hollywood Reporter, are filed against the heirs of late comic book legends Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, and Gene Colan. The lawsuits seek a declaration that these well-known characters are not eligible for copyright termination as works for hire. If Marvel loses, Disney will have to split ownership of billion-dollar characters.
Spider-Man, which originally debuted in comic book form in 1962, received a notice of termination from the administrator of Ditko’s estate in August. After waiting a specified length of time, writers or their heirs may recover rights given to publishers under copyright law’s termination clauses. In June 2023, Marvel would have to relinquish Ditko’s rights to the famous character, according to the termination letter.
Marc Toberoff, an intellectual property attorney best known for defending Superman founders Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster in their battle with Warner Bros. and DC Comics over the original copyrights to Superman, is representing the heirs. In the end, DC won the lawsuit against Toberoff.
The Hollywood Reporter is the source for this information.
Recent Developments
New renders of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra have surfaced, perhaps inspired by the now-defunct Galaxy Note series.
24 September 2021 24 September 2021
On the single-core Cinebench test, the Intel Core i9-12900K “Alder Lake-S” CPU outperforms AMD Ryzen 9 5950X by almost 2,000 points.
24 September 2021 24 September 2021
Microsoft’s Xbox-Only Perfect Dark Project welcomes Crystal Dynamics.
24 September 2021 24 September 2021
All cryptocurrency-related activities are now illegal in China.
24 September 2021 24 September 2021
The PC Requirements for Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water Have Been Revealed
24 September 2021 24 September 2021
COVID Has Disrupted Aluminum Capacitor Supply in Southeast Asia
24 September 2021 24 September 2021
Marvel is suing to keep the rights of Iron Man, Spider-Man, Thor, and other Avengers characters from going to their heirs. This will be a huge decision for Marvel as they are in danger of losing all of their heroes if this lawsuit doesn’t go well. Reference: who owns spider-man.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Disney suing Stan Lee?
The Walt Disney Company filed a lawsuit against Stan Lee in December 2018, accusing the comic book legend of breach of contract and fraud.
What Marvel characters does Sony have the rights to?
Sony has the rights to all Marvel characters.
Who owns the rights to Marvel?
Marvel Entertainment is a subsidiary of Disney.
Related Tags
- iron man 3
- horizon comics
- ghost rider
- ghost rider 3
- cool ghost rider wallpaper