Marvel and Disney are in danger of losing their most lucrative characters in the comic book universe — Spider-Man, Black Widow, Falcon, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Dr Strange and many more. The company filed five cases in US courts yesterday, challenging copyright termination notices filed by the next of kin of the creators of these most iconic Marvel characters.
Marvel filed suits against the following –
1. Lawrence D. Lieber, younger brother of Stan Lee, and co-creator of IronMan, Thor and Ant-Man;
2. Patrick S. Ditko, brother of Stephen Ditko who co-created Spider-Man and Dr Strange with Stan Lee;
3. Michelle Hart-Rico and Buz Donato Rico III, wife and son of Marvel comic book writer Donato Francisco Rico II, who co-created Black Widow with Stan Lee
4. The estate of Don Heck, co-creator of Ironman, Black Widow and Hawkeye
5. The estate of Gene Colan, co-creator of Captain Marvel, Falcon, Blade and others
The heirs of the creators of the iconic characters seek to reclaim the rights to the characters that are the creations of their kin. As per them, Marvel has made billions of dollars by using the characters in numerous films and series, but has failed to adequately compensate the creators.
Marvel is seeking a ruling that termination notices served by the aforementioned are invalid because the concerned works were “made for hire” and created at Marvel’s instance, expense and creative direction.
“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,” said Dan Petrocelli, Counsel to Marvel.
The events of the case beg the question – can Marvel really lose the rights to its most beloved characters of Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Widow, Falcon, Ant-Man, Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, Dr Strange and others?
The answer lies in another similar case filed in 2009, and then renewed again in 2014, by the four children of Jack Kirby, co-creator of Iron Man, Thor and the X-Men. Kirby’s heirs sought to reclaim copyrights to the characters created by their father. The federal court however ruled in Marvel’s favour, decreeing that the characters were made under work for hire agreements. This time too, Marvel hopes to win its cases against the copyright termination pleas.
That said, even if the heirs were to win their copyright termination claims, Marvel will not lose rights to the characters completely. It can retain rights by paying the next of kin of the artists an agreed sum for the contribution the artists’ made to the work.
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