Superman Copyright Lawsuit Gets Dismissed
A lawsuit from the estate of Joe Shuster, the co-creator of Superman, was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman on Thursday. The reason given was that the court doesn’t have the authority over the copyright infringement claim because it was brought under the laws of foreign countries.
On Friday, the lawsuit was refiled in New York state court. The lawsuit from Warren Peary, Shuster’s nephew claims that Warner Bros. lost its international rights to Superman years ago but still used the character without permission or compensation. It seeks a share of the profits in several countries claiming infringement of copyright laws in the U.K., Australia, Canada, Ireland, and more.
Peary’s argument was that under the Berne Convention, the court must apply the laws of countries where his rights to Superman were infringed upon. In the U.K., as an example, copyright assignments are terminated 25 years after the author’s death, so in this case the rights would have been reclaimed in 2017.
DC has “owned” Superman since 1938 when Shuster and Jerry Siegel sold their rights to the character and story for $130. The rights have been a part of multiple litigation starting in 1947 when the duo sued to invalidate DC’s ownership of the rights to Superman. The case was settled with a $94,000 payout. While U.S. copyright law would allow Shuster to typically reclaim his domestic rights, his sister and brother reached a deal with DC in 1992 that terminated that right in exchange for $25,000 a year. A federal appeals court later upheld that deal. But, there’s still a question if Shuster’s sister had the authority to make that deal which hasn’t been determined.
Expect this lawsuit to return like so many of Superman’s villains.
