photo credit: christopheles

This news was simply too large and unwieldy to cover in this week’s podcast. Essentially, the rights for Superman may be taken away from Warner Bros. (who in turn, owns DC Comics). But don’t feel bad for the WB. They’ve brought this on themselves through years of abusing the rights of creators.

In 1938, DC Comics bought the rights to Superman from Jerome Siegel and Jerry Schuster, the creators. They paid them each $130, which even adjusted for inflation is an insult. But since they were not being allowed to work on the character they created, they took the money and sold over the copyright. In 1948, they also sold over Superboy.

Schuster has passed away and left no heirs, but the wife and heirs of Siegel have been contesting WB’s rights to Superman for the last several years. A provision in U.S. copyright law allows creators or their heirs to reclaim rights within a five-year window, after 59 years of the sale. The Siegel estate has done exactly that, and in a ruling by U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson this week, he has given the rights back to Jerry Siegel’s widow and heirs.

Warner Bros. will definitely appeal the decision, but this stands to give the Siegel’s half of the profits from all Superman products since 1999, which would be in the range of at least $50 million. It would also allow them to have a say in what to do with the character moving forward.

WB has a long history of aggressively lawyering up whenever creators claim rights to their projects, almost always waiting them out until they can no longer afford legal fees. They keep law firms on retainer for just this purpose and are on a level with Disney for refusing to settle any suits. This is one they just may lose.

On a personal note, I’m not sure what the “right” thing to come out of this is. I do believe that the Siegel’s were treated atrociously for decades and deserve a large amount of the profits from Superman’s past and a creator credit in whatever media the character is used. However, the history and characterization of Superman was also created by dozens and dozens of authors and illustrators and radio and tv and film creators ever since his inception. Ideally, DC retains the rights to continue Superman’s new comic book stories, and the Siegels receive their justified financial earnings and credit.

For more on this case and the history, I recommend reading this article.