This will no doubt work out nicely.
The heirs of Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman, have successfully terminated some of the copyrights to the superhero that had been held by Warner Brothers and DC Comics.
Siegel’s heirs now have the exclusive rights to the concepts created in the first two weeks of the daily Superman comic strip or in the early editions of Action Comics and Superman comics. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Esq.
This means the Siegels, repped by Warners’ nemesis Marc Toberoff, now control depictions of Superman’s origins from the planet Krypton, his parents Jor-El and Lora, Superman as an infant, the launching of the baby Superman into space and his landing on Earth in a fiery crash. But Warners/DC still owns other elements, including Superman’s ability to fly, the term “kryptonite,” the villain Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olsen, and some of Superman’s powers.
Why Toberoff is the studio’s nemesis and the BigLaw connection after the jump.
This is Toberoff’s (McGill BA, Columbia JD ‘80) second big win against Warner Bros., and he has another pending. He got $17.5 million for the producer of a 1975 film, “Moonrunners,” which was ripped off by Warner Bros.’ “Dukes of Hazzard“. We’re not sure whether it’s comforting or frightening that that steaming turd wasn’t an original work. In another case related to the Superman rights, he has also gotten a trial court victory for the Siegels against Warner Bros.’ Smallville (which was pretty good at first), which is on appeal.
Now the parties will have to figure out how much the Siegels are entitled to, which isn’t going well already. Plus, Warners won’t be able to put out a Legion of Justice movie (which could be cool) or a sequel to Superman Returns (which sucked) until they work out a deal.
American Lawyer tracked down the rest of the counsel:
According to court records, DC and Warner are represented by the following firms: Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu; Weissmann Wolff Bergman Coleman Grodin & Evall; Loeb and Loeb; and Perkins Law Offices.
The Hollywood Reporter, Esq. is hosting the opinion, which is actually very interesting (and includes actual panels from the comics). We never really thought about it before, but “alley oop” used to be spelled “allez-oop,” which probably makes more sense (see p. 10, where it looks like Dick Tracy is watching a Smallville High football game).
By the way, the original sale price for the Superman rights? $130
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