Marvel Sues to keep Spider-Man, X-Men & Fantastic Four!

[Drz]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34770514/ns/entertainment/

NEW YORK - Marvel is suing to keep the rights to superheroes including Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and X-Men.The federal lawsuit filed Friday in Manhattan asks a judge to invalidate notices sent by the heirs of artist Jack Kirby to try to terminate Marvel's copyrights.
The heirs sent notified several companies last year that the rights to the characters would revert from Marvel to Kirby's estate.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26613008/
The lawsuit says Kirby's work on the comics were "for hire" and render the heirs' claims invalid.Comic book characters such as Spider-Man and the X-Men have become some of Hollywood's most bankable properties in recent years.
Marc Toberoff, an attorney for the Kirby heirs, said he hadn't seen the lawsuit and had no immediate comment.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Thoughts? Comments? Tell!

 

[Themanofbat]

Kirby has minimal to no rights to Spider-Man... and that's all I have to say about that.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

These spoilt little brats should **** off. Trying to get some fazouls off their great grand pappy's work? Disgraceful. Go out and earn your own money!

 

[Drz]

Kirby has minimal to no rights to Spider-Man... and that's all I have to say about that.

The Spider-Man fuzz is because the Heirs to Kirby claim Kirby has something to do with Spider-Man, hence Marvel is including Spidey to the law suit.

 

[Venom160]

Eh saw it coming when the heirs of Superman's creators won their lawsuit. Shame on them for trying to milk their father/grandfather's co-creations for money. Go work for your cash like everyone else.

 

[WolfCypher]

Don't worry. One advantage of being married to Disney is having Disney lawyers, And those lawyers are some mean ass bastards. Marvel won't lose.

 

[Manic]

Don't worry. One advantage of being married to Disney is having Disney lawyers, And those lawyers are some mean ass bastards. Marvel won't lose.

Ooo, I almost forgot Marvel is owned by Disney now. Yeah, Disney's lawyer and vicious. They managed to stop Mickey Mouse from entering the public domain, which should've happened a few years ago.

 

[Venom160]

Don't worry. One advantage of being married to Disney is having Disney lawyers, And those lawyers are some mean ass bastards. Marvel won't lose.

I forgot about that. Oh **** I feel sorry for the Kirby heirs now cause Disney's lawyers are gonna tear them apart. Nice.

 

[Tron Bonne]

I doubt it'll amount to anything unless there's some type of loophole in the original deal, but I'd say if there were someone would have jumped on it a long time ago. I think anyone deserves rights to what they create, though with Kirby being kind of dead he probably doesn't care much, but whatever, if they somehow manage to get some rights for the estate more power to them.

Shame on them for trying to milk their father/grandfather's co-creations for money.

Yeah, because it's not like Marvel totally does that with these licenses or anything

 

[deathshead2]

Disney will settle with them out of court. They have the cash, and they'll come to deal. Take the small cash deal, or lose big in the courts.

 

[Anubis]

I thought this was about getting the movie rights back.

 

[deathshead2]

I thought this was about getting the movie rights back.

I did at first too, then I read it and grew sad.

 

[Gilpesh]

Yeah, because it's not like Marvel totally does that with these licenses or anything

I'm glad that there's someone else smart enough to see how stupid that complaining is.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

I thought this was about getting the movie rights back.

I would have much prefered THIS news.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Well, if Marvel loses the rights to the characters themselves, the movie rights will become even more of a nightmare.

 

[topdog1]

These spoilt little brats should **** off. Trying to get some fazouls off their great grand pappy's work? Disgraceful. Go out and earn your own money!

There ya go!

Of course the greedy Kirby heirs' copyright claims are invalid. It's obvious. Even if they weren't, they've got some gall. Kirby may have partially birthed some of these characters but they've advanced so much over the years that they have nothing to do with his work. It's like being one of five guys to knock up a woman. He MAY be the biological father but he had no part in raising the kid and shouldn't be entitled to anything that kid does 40 years later.

 

[deathshead2]

Well, if Marvel loses the rights to the characters themselves, the movie rights will become even more of a nightmare.

They won't. Disney will totally make Kirby's family settle out of court for an unknown sum.

 

[B]

You can blame this partially on the Siegel/Superman copyright fiasco...

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

They won't. Disney will totally make Kirby's family settle out of court for an unknown sum.

Their lives.

 

[hippie_hunter]

You can blame this partially on the Siegel/Superman copyright fiasco...

True, but the Siegels while being a tad bit annoying do have basis in their claims.

The Kirbys on the other hand do not. And considering that it's the same lawyer that represented the Siegels, it sounds like this guy wooed the Kirbys into thinking that he can get lucky twice. Marvel's argument sounds a lot more valid, especially since the Kirbys are also trying to get characters that Jack Kirby didn't even create.

 

[RockSP]

I thought this was about getting the movie rights back.

I did at first too, then I read it and grew sad.

Yup.

 

[Manic]

What gets me is that they've added Spider-Man to the claim. Did the Kirbys get confused and think they were the Ditkos?

 

[Anubis]

Didn't they say he was the first person to actually draw Spidey? He did the Amazing fantasy cover.

 

[Drz]

You can blame this partially on the Siegel/Superman copyright fiasco...

It's always easy to blame things on the jews.

 

[yenaled]

I always find it ludicrous that the fans side with these faceless multimillion dollar companies.

Your precious characters aren't going anywhere the families just want some money that is deserved to them - you'd do exactly the same if you're grandfather was Jack Kirby and you weren't getting the money owed to your estate.