Disney is Suing to Block Copyright Claims to Marvel Characters

The latest standoff between Marvel and the heirs of comic artists

Disney is Suing to Block Copyright Claims to Marvel Characters
Avengers: Infinity War. Credit: Disney

In an interesting turn of events, Disney has decided to sue some Marvel comics creators, including those related to Steve Ditko. Apparently, Disney wants to retain its full control over the classic comic characters, including Black Widow, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Iron Man.



Disney filed the lawsuits in California and New York just recently against the relatives of Gene Colan, Don Heck, Steve Ditko, Don Rico, and the brother of Marvel contributor Stan Lee, Larry Lieber.

According to the lawsuit, Disney retains sole ownership of characters and comics, including The Amazing Spider-Man, Tales of Suspense, Iron Man, and The Avengers. This also includes all the story element that have helped Disney shape the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it today.

 

Before the suit, Larry Lieber and other contributors/creators sent termination notices to retain some rights on characters. The main purpose of a termination letter is to let creators, along with their heirs, receive a share in the profits made by the publisher.

 

However, the lawyers at Disney are arguing that Marvel always had full control over all the comic books. Furthermore, according to these layers, the artists who created the characters and the writers were paid for their work on an on-hire basis.

Regarding this, the lawsuit stated, “This case thus involves an invalid attempt, by means of termination notices … to acquire certain rights to iconic Marvel comic book characters and stories.”

 

This is not the first time that families of authors and creators are fighting a legal battle to retain some rights to the comic characters.

Such efforts have not resulted in big success. For instance, Jack Kirby’s children settled a lawsuit with Disney, which ended up in Disney’s favor. The court concluded that Jack Kirby was working on an on-hire basis. Again, in the same year, the family of Joe Shuster (Superman’s co-creator) could not get victory over Warner Bros.

 

As an argument in the lawsuit, Disney has mentioned that the products result from a collaborative “Marvel Method.” Hence, it would not be possible to consider a specific artist or author as the owner.

In other news, Shang-Chi will be available for streaming on Disney+ from November 12th, 2021.



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