No, it is not 2015 again. But a new lawsuit over the rights to Superman has just been filed. Attorney Marc Toberoff has filed a suit on behalf of the heirs of SUperman co-creator Joe Shuster claiming that in foriegn territories, the rights to Superman have reverted to the family.
The suit comes just as Superman is getting his biggest media push in a decade thanks to the upcoming Superman movie, written and directed by James Gunn and slated for release on July 11th – and could threaten the film’s release in some major film territories shou ld it become embroiled in a legal tangle.
I’ll direct you to Gene Maddeus’s succinct write up of the suit (which you can read here) for details, but for Toberoff this is a homecoming. He’s been suing movie companies on behalf of comics creators for decades, as with the Kirby heirs, and previous lawsuits on behalf of original Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. While Toberoff has rarely achieved a total victory in court, public opinion over studios mistreating impoverished or belittled creators has often won significant behind the scenes gains.
This suit seems aimed at more public shaming and wrench-throwing to delay the release of the Superman film.
In the new case, the estate’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, asserts claims under copyright laws in the U.K., Canada, Ireland and Australia. The suit comes months before Warner Bros. Discovery will release “Superman” this summer, relaunching the valuable franchise and starting a planned cinematic universe of DC characters.
In the suit, filed in the Southern District of New York, Toberoff argues that the copyright reverted to the Shuster estate in most of those countries in 2017, and in Canada in 2021.
“Yet Defendants continue to exploit Superman across these jurisdictions without the Shuster Estate’s authorization — including in motion pictures, television series, and merchandise — in direct contravention of these countries’ copyright laws, which require the consent of all joint copyright owners to do so,” Toberoff wrote.
WB claims the suit is meritless and vows to fight back.
Perhaps to sway the court of public opionion, Toberoff has included as exhibits two of the most depressing documents in comics history. The first – which is undoubtedly THE most depressing document in comics history – is the letter where Siegel and Shuster signed away the billion dollar rights to one of the greatest characters in history for $130 – or as many call it, “Comics’ original sin.”
The second is the letter where Shuster’s surviving heir, his sister Jean Shuster Peavy, signs away the rights for $25,000 a year. Even in 1992 that was chump change – and yet somehow it seemed like reasonable compensation for a character from the funnybooks at the time.
While this suit might be more of a nuisance suit given Toberoff’s lack of clear victories in such cases, it could potentially be settled or even dismissed quickly in order to maintain the triumphal aura around Superman’s return to theaters.
Superman is directed and written by James Gunn and stars David Corenswet as Superman/Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hoult as LEx Luthor, Milly Alcock as Kara Zor-El, Nathan FIllion as Guy Gardner, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher and Edi Gathegi’s as Mr. Terrific. It opens on July 11th.
