NomNomNom!
Jack Kirby's heirs have served Marvel Entertainment, the Walt Disney Co. and related studios with 45 copyright termination notices concerning characters created or co-created by Jack Kirby.
The list of characters includes Captain America, the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Silver Surfer, Black Panther, Galactus, Magneto and Dr. Doom.
I'm sure I'll raise some ire from some and perhaps confusion from others over this, but my tone's one of initial reaction.
On the one hand I believe that copyright laws have long since been corrupted into a hideous, eternal monstrosity they were never intended to be. Current law, and trends that we've seen in it, threaten to choke our society by locking everything up so that it becomes less and less likely that anyone who succeeds in some creative venture will be free of people claiming to pre-own a piece of it.
On the other hand, while I will side with the individual over a corporate entity almost any day, it's difficult for me to see this as something other than a people looking to get paid for concepts they themselves never created by looking to overturn work for hire agreements from 40 years and more ago. It isn't as if the heirs are going after this for proper credit for their dear, departed Jack - official creator credits are fairly standard and fashionable these days. These characters are no more cherished by them than they are by Marvel -- they're just properties to both of them and I honestly don't see the family having truly strong claims to them... though that will theoretically be for courts to decide, then reaffirm or overturn, and then go back for appeals. It may easily end in an out of court, Do Not Discuss agreement and pay-off, though it could go the distance so long as the plaintiffs believe they see a large enough pay-off.
Ultimately, as with cockroaches and rats prospering in almost any prolonged battle, I know that the legal teams on both sides are going to make out handsomely.
This is as reported in the Wall Street Journal, which seems to be where the story broke.
Here's the text to the WSJ article, in case the original is changed or otherwise made unavailable:
Heirs of Comic Book Creator Seek to Recapture Copyrights
By LAUREN A.E. SCHUKER
The heirs of late comic-book creator Jack Kirby served 45 copyright-termination notices to Marvel Entertainment Inc., Walt Disney Co. and other Hollywood studios relating to comic-book characters and stories created by Mr. Kirby, including "X-Men" and "The Fantastic Four."
Mr. Kirby's four children are seeking to recapture as early as 2014 copyrights to characters he created. Those creations and co-creations are currently owned by Marvel. But if the heirs gain control of the copyrights, they could license them without Marvel's permission, or at least secure a share of the profits generated by those characters.
The heirs served the notices under the auspices of the U.S. Copyright Act, which permits authors and their heirs to terminate old copyright grants after a long waiting period, allowing them to recapture the rights for their own use.
A spokeswoman for Disney said: "The notices involved are an attempt to terminate rights seven to 10 years from now and involve claims fully considered in the acquisition."
Disney last month agreed to acquire Marvel for $4 billion.
In a federal court lawsuit that hasn't been fully resolved, the heirs of "Superman" co-creator Jerry Siegel recently recaptured limited rights relating to the original "Superman" from Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. and DC Comics.
—Ethan Smith contributed to this article.
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