Superman never made any money
For saving the world from Solomon Grundy...
A nice legal ruling over at
Comicbook Resources:
JUDGE SAYS SIEGELS NOW OWN HALF OF SUPERMAN
In a possibly historic ruling, a federal judge Wednesday determined that the heirs of Superman co-creator, Jerry Siegel, are now the rightful owners of one-half of the copyright of Superman, and have been since 1999. The New York Times reported today that Judge Stephen Larson of the Central District of California had delivered a whopping 72 page ruling on the matter of who owns the copyright of Superman, establishing that "Action Comics" #1, the first appearance of Superman, was not considered to be a product of work-for-hire, making the copyright for that issue (and, naturally, the character of Superman) eligible for termination by Siegel�s heirs. What that means in simpler terms -- the Siegel's now own half of the Superman copyright.
The ruling was based upon changes made in 1976 to the Copyright Act, extending the total length of copyright protection for a character like Superman from 56 years to 75 years since creation. This change also allowed any copyright transfers to be terminated so that the original copyright owner (or his/her heirs) could gain the benefit of those extra 19 years of protection (with the presumption being that it would be unfair to the original copyright owners, as any deals they made before the change in law were based upon the 56 year duration, not 75).
DC has an array of defenses, but their best one was that "Action Comics" #1 was a work-for-hire, which means that DC would be considered the creator of the copyright. Larson ruled against DC on this point, stating that Siegel and Shuster sold their property (and the copyrights therein) to DC for $130, in a standard copyright transfer. It is this transfer that Siegel�s heirs filed for termination, which would have become effective in 1999, which Larson confirmed Wednesday.
Sucks that it took so long and that Jerry was not alive to hear the ruling but still. Nice to see credit where credit is due...
Opening words from the ever wonderful
Crash Test Dummies
Posted by DaveH at March 29, 2008 10:41 AM