Mar
29
A Superman Custody Dispute
Posted by Keeley Vega at 11:12 am under Copyright, Litigation.
The New York Times shares a story today about an important lesson on copyright termination rights. The point: “to have and hold forever” does not always really mean forever.
“Time Warner is no longer the sole proprietor of Superman. A federal judge here on Wednesday ruled that the heirs of Jerome Siegel — who 70 years ago sold the rights to the action hero he created with Joseph Shuster to Detective Comics for $130 — were entitled to claim a share of the United States copyright to the character… [I]t reserved for trial questions over how much the company may owe the Siegel heirs for use of the character since 1999, when their ownership is deemed to have been restored. Also to be resolved is whether the heirs are entitled to payments directly from Time Warner’s film unit, Warner Brothers, which took in $200 million at the domestic box office with “Superman Returns” in 2006, or only from the DC unit’s Superman profits.”
Section 304(c) of the Copyright Act allows a copyright owner or his heirs to terminate all grants, licenses or transfers of rights (made prior to 1978) beginning on the 56th year after that assignment was made. These rights can be terminated within a five-year period beginning on the 56th year after the grant was made. A notice of termination must be sent not less than two or more than ten years before the termination is to take effect.
Here, the grant was made in 1938, so termination could have been effected beginning in 1994. The notice was sent in 1997 and took effect in 1999. Thus, it looks like the Siegel heirs missed out on five years worth of profits from the use of the character.