Siegels And Shusters Lose Case Over Superman Against DC Entertainment

[Rich Johnston]

Daniel Best of Oh Danny Boy presents the legal document that will give Marc Toberoff and the Siegel and Shuster estates an un-merry Christmas. But give DC Entertainment lawyers some festive cheer. That the judge has ruled

"...the copyright termination notice served by the Estate of Joseph Shuster on November 10, 2003, is deemed invalid and ineffective,"

and that the Siegel and Shuster lawyer's

"...rights-encumbering agreements?including the 2001 Pacific Pictures agreement, 2003 Pacific Pictures agreement, and 2008 consent agreement?are deemed invalid and unenforceable."

Daniel points out that there will, of course, be plenty of appeals. So the case will be contiunuing into the launch of the new Man Of Steelk movie...

[toodoor]

Given the S&S got a bad deal back in the day, what makes me saddest is that this is the right decision.
Hopefully at some point they can get Toberoff out of this and a fair solution can be sorted.

[WinterCeltic]

Hopefully at some point they can get Toberoff out of this and a fair solution can be sorted.

That is my hope as well. Toberoff is obviously a snake, but DC doesn't deserve to walk away completely scott-free, either. Let rational, cooler heads prevail and settle this once and for all... Without the blood-sucking lawyers front and center.

[Peter J Poole]

That is my hope as well. Toberoff is obviously a snake, but DC doesn't deserve to walk away completely scott-free, either. Let rational, cooler heads prevail and settle this once and for all... Without the blood-sucking lawyers front and center.

Weren't they inches away from a deal when the families let Toberoff take the wheel?

I think there's only so many do-overs you get on these kind of things... and they're arguably well over that number already!

Cheers

[Jeryn]

I guess I'm of two minds on this whole situation. I think that Siegel and Shuster got totally screwed...morally if not legally, and I'm sure they would have wanted their family to win out on this one. OTOH, I'm not very sympathetic to creator's estates. In my experience, estates shamelessly exploit their intellectual property as moneymaking machines no less than companies like DC. The "related by blood" thing doesn't make them treat the original IP with any more respect. And then once you get to the children's grandchildren owning it, it's like...whatever.

[WinterCeltic]

Weren't they inches away from a deal when the families let Toberoff take the wheel?

One family. Specifically, just a couple of members of one of the families got involved with Toberoff and started this.

But it doesn't matter, really. What's right is right. They should offer the same deal again, with the caveat that Toberoff cannot profit a single cent.

[not him - HIM]

I imagine Toberoff as looking like a cross between Saul out of Breaking Bad and the late Paul Bartel. Anyone know how right or wrong my mental picture of him is?

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was blaming Toberoff.

[B-Thom]

Honest question, Is there a limited number of appeals possible or is it infinite? Because it sure looks like there will never be an end to this.

[Matt Krotzer]

Honest question, Is there a limited number of appeals possible or is it infinite? Because it sure looks like there will never be an end to this.

There's only so many they can have. Each appeal goes to a higher court. Eventually they'll have to appeal to the US Supreme Court, who will likely reject the case, and that'll be the end of things.

/armchairlawyer