Marvel fans; grab your attention on this news where some of your favorite characters’ rights are in danger. Marvel recently sued world-famous comic book artist Larry Lieber and the estates of artists Steve Ditko, Don Heck, Gene Colan, and Don Rico. Marvel is seeking court orders stating that the artists can't terminate its copyright interests in any manner that vest in characters they co-created which includes Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Thor.
“The artists' creations were works that were made for hire for Marvel, Marvel owns them undoubtedly in perpetuity, and the artists can't reclaim those rights in characters under the Copyright Act”, Marvel argued in the complaints.
The artists did their marvelous job in writing and illustrating Marvel comics in the years of 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Lieber and the estates of Ditko, Heck, Colan, and also including Rico filed several notices this summer where they seemed claiming to terminate their all kinds of grants of copyrights not only to Marvel but also to its parent company Disney in comics they wrote.
Marvel sued Lieber and Ditko and Heck's estates in Manhattan federal court, Colan's estate in Brooklyn Federal Court, and Rico's estate in Los Angeles Federal Court and asked all the courts to declare their termination notices as invalid.
The artists were represented by an attorney, Marc Toberoff of Toberoff & Associates. He said, “The lawsuits are based on an anachronistic and highly criticized interpretation of 'work-made-for-hire under the 1909 Copyright Act that needs to be rectified."
While Marvel was represented by attorney Dan Petrocelli of O'Melveny and Myers. He said in a statement, “Since these were works made for hire and thus owned by Marvel, we filed these lawsuits to confirm that the termination notices are invalid and of no legal effect."
It is a law under the Copyright Act that an artist has a right to terminate a copyright assignment after a period of 35 years simply by giving notice at least two years in advance from the intended date of termination.
The stories that were mentioned in Lieber's notices feature some famous superheroes including Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and The Wizard. For those who are not aware of Lieber, he is the younger brother of late Marvel legend Stan Lee.
Lieber is not alone in who is claiming rights on Marvel's character, Heck's estate is also on the list of persons claiming rights over heroes’ characters such as Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Black Widow. Rico's estate is another such of a kind who is claiming his rights.
Ditko's estate filed notices over stories featuring Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Colan filed notices related to Captain Marvel, Falcon, and Blade.
The cases can be reached with the names as:
- Marvel Characters Inc v. Lieber, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:21-cv-07955;
- Marvel Characters Inc v. Ditko, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:21-cv-07957;
- Marvel Characters Inc v. Dettwiler, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:21-cv-07959;
- Marvel Characters Inc v. Colan, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, No. 1:21-cv-05316; and
- Marvel Characters Inc v. Hart-Rico, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 2:21-cv-07624.
Let’s see what would be the result of such a legal fight for marvel characters but let’s hope for some positive outcomes.
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