2009 Merchandise & Miscellaneous News Archives

Superman Court Case

July 10, 2009: Siegel Family Response on Superman Court Ruling

The Siegel family issued the following press release in response to the recent decision issued July 8, 2009 in the case of Siegel v. Warner Bros. Parts of this release were reported on by various news media, however we present it to you here in full...

    "The Court's earlier ruling in this case ensures that the Siegels already own half the copyright to the original Superman story, published in Action Comics No. 1, and entitles them to an accounting for Defendants' exploitation of Superman. This trial was only an interim step in the multi-faceted accounting case which remains, in that it only concerned the secondary issue of whether DC Comics, or DC Comics and Warner Bros., would have to account to the Siegels.

    To put this in further perspective, the entire accounting action pales in comparison to the fact that in 2013, the Siegels, along with the estate of Joe Shuster, will own the entire original copyright to Superman, and neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros. will be able to exploit any new Superman works without a license from the Siegels and Shusters.

    It must be noted that the Court found that Warner Bros. should have paid three to four times the amount actually paid for the Superman film rights. Most importantly, the Court found it to be inequitable that DC transferred the Superman film rights to Warner Bros., without the standard term providing for reversion for lack of ongoing exploitation. The Court pointedly ruled that if Warner Bros. does not start production on another Superman film by 2011, the Siegels will be able to sue to recover their damages.

    The Siegels look forward to the remainder of the case, which will determine how much Defendants owe them for their exploitations of Superman."



2009 Merchandise & Miscellaneous News

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