Disney Backs Marvel in Fight Against Kirby Heirs

Disney Backs Marvel in Fight Against Kirby Heirs

The House of Mouse has stepped in to provide legal defense for their new subsidiary, Marvel Entertainment, against the Kirby family copyright lawsuit.

News
By multipurposeponi - May 27, 2010 08:05 PM EST
Filed Under: Marvel Comics
Source: THR



LISA R. KIRBY, BARBARA J. KIRBY, NEAL L. KIRBY and SUSAN N. KIRBY

VS

MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT, INC. THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY


It appears that Disney has shown Marvel some real-world heroics by stepping in to help defend their comic character rights against the Kirby estates' recent lawsuit. For those of you unaware of the current proceedings, the heirs of the late Jack Kirby had filed 45 notices of termination to Marvel, Sony, Universal, Fox and others, in an effort to regain control of much of Kirby's work. The work in question, which includes the characters Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, the X-Men & the Hulk, was created by Kirby during his "work-for-hire" tenure with Marvel. Before filing their claim, the Kirby family hired high-powered attorney Marc Toberoff, who is also battling Warner Bros. over copyright of the Superman character on behalf of the Jerry Siegel estate.

A motion filed yesterday shows that the Walt Disney Co. isn't going to let any part of their $4 billion Marvel investment go without a major fight. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney is "asking a New York District Court to hold off on ordering an accounting of profits on these franchises because Kirby's underlying copyright ownership claim hasn't been validated yet.

The court papers also take up such issues as whether Kirby's original artwork should be turned over, whether Kirby should have been credited in connection with "The Incredible Hulk" and "X-Men" films. Disney also believes the Kirby estate claims are barred by statute of limitations."

This may only be considered a small step by the Disney legal team, but it is an important one. Now that Disney has officially thrown their lot in with the case, it's safe to assume this is only their first of many strategic moves.


If you wish to read the full Memorandum, you can view it here:


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bleedthefreak
bleedthefreak - 5/27/2010, 8:18 PM
his family are scum greedy [frick]s didn't care until there was a shit load of money to be made
SHHH
SHHH - 5/27/2010, 8:19 PM
Disney is like the mob..
JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 5/27/2010, 8:23 PM
Go Marvel/Disney! I'm all for giving Jack Kirby more credit but all these greedy bastard care about is money and clearly couldnt give a damn about how what they're doing will effect the people who care about the characters!
Checkmate
Checkmate - 5/27/2010, 8:24 PM
I choose team Disney.
SkWiRlDaDdY
SkWiRlDaDdY - 5/27/2010, 8:25 PM
Disney has super lawyers
InstigatorGIRL
InstigatorGIRL - 5/27/2010, 8:34 PM
They are so fraked... LMAO.
peterparker420
peterparker420 - 5/27/2010, 8:39 PM
The Kirby's family!..BOOO..Hey I am all for giving the creators some rights..I say give them 5 percent..to shut them up, or maybe..1 percent..1 percent of 4 BILLON should shut those greedy bastards up. All they want is MONEY..they don't CARE about the character like JACK did. 1 percent.
selinakyle
selinakyle - 5/27/2010, 8:41 PM
This is gonna get oogly!
wraith2099
wraith2099 - 5/27/2010, 8:50 PM
I had read somewhere and I'm not sure if it's this same lawyer or not but it might be!? Anyhow he scopes out people that stand to inherent a crap load of money like the"Jerry Siegel estate", and convinces them to file a lawsuit,but the catch is that should he win the case,he get's a large percentage of the rights to the same comic characters he's supposedly trying to attain for his clients. And it's apparent that he's attempting to do the same to the"Kirby estates".
If this is true...then this lawyer is actually the bad guy,not "the jeery siegel estates" "the kirbi estates" or Disney. Again this lawyer stands to make a lot of money and his clients are just being used.
StuckInPanels
StuckInPanels - 5/27/2010, 8:50 PM
Gee a team of the most powerful attorneys vs some schmuck in a nice suit...I WONDER WHO WILL WIN...this wont be that long...by Thor's release, all this will be resolved.
SeaSerpentine
SeaSerpentine - 5/27/2010, 8:52 PM
I also choose team Disney.

@wraith2099 it is the same guy.
Wadey09
Wadey09 - 5/27/2010, 8:59 PM
i'll probably only say this once:
GO DISNEY!!!!!!!
and the fact that Disney is a monster of a company means that they can tie this up in court for years without a decision being made!

great find @Multi!
btw check out Part VI of my Spider-man story by clicking the LINK!!
entouragefan
entouragefan - 5/27/2010, 9:04 PM
When Mcfarlen and others left Marvel they landed a huge blow for the Writers who come up with the characters but the Kirby Heirs need to just understand thats how it was in his day yes HE should have been given more credit and money for the characters HE come up with what characters did his Heirs come up with oh yeah thats right none. I say go Disney and i hope this shows all of those who thought Disney only bought Marvel for the money that they do care about Marvel as more then a cash cow.
thegamedrex
thegamedrex - 5/27/2010, 9:12 PM
I will review the civil action form to see what they got, lol i love this stuff.
StephenStrange
StephenStrange - 5/27/2010, 9:25 PM
OH YEAH!!!!!! WHAT NOW, PLAYA PLAYA????? LOL!

OH hell yeah that is such great news!!! There IS justice in the world!
nursevil
nursevil - 5/27/2010, 9:28 PM
I get so tired when family members who had no involvement with making it want a piece of it. Jack Kirby should get credit for the work that he did but his family should not get control of the work or all of the profits. Where was all of their concern over his work when X-men, Iron Man and Spidy were not money making entities.

Let Marvel/Disney make the movies. You don't see Shakespear's desendants getting a profit from Romeo and Juilette.
OverCross
OverCross - 5/27/2010, 9:39 PM
Well I guess that's one good Disney/Marvel thing


I guess



They are rich
SHAZAM171
SHAZAM171 - 5/27/2010, 9:47 PM
TO STARK INDUSTRIES, AND BEYOND!!!!!
thwhtGuardian
thwhtGuardian - 5/27/2010, 9:51 PM
Well Disney did beat the heirs of A.A. Milne so they do have experience with showing heirs the door.
California
California - 5/27/2010, 9:59 PM
If Kirby's artwork was created under a written "work for hire" agreement, then there should be absolutely no merit to this case. I wonder what loophole they're trying to use.
FateSucks
FateSucks - 5/27/2010, 10:10 PM
Here is the deal, if Marvel had gone out of business, would the Kirby family have ponied up the cash to pay off the debtors? NO! As a recording artist I get paid the same for contract work regardless of how well the project sells. Whatever is in the contract. When a compilation CD had one of my tracks on it, I would get my licensing fee and that's it, if the compilation made a billion, I still would only get me fee. The Kirby family should lose, and then be forced to pay the court fees and legal fees that Disney/Marvel charged up for their defense of this money grubbing frivolous lawsuit.
Ranger14
Ranger14 - 5/27/2010, 10:13 PM
Well...the Siegel thing has gone on for years. I feel somewhat sorry for the Siegel/Shuster team as they were talked into selling the rights for Superman for like $130. DC at least gave the family a little bit more later on. Didn't realize that was still going on.
McLovin
McLovin - 5/27/2010, 10:19 PM
gtrman brings up a good point. I'd like to have more insight on this before I go passing judgment.

Ok, so maybe Kirby did sign his rights (and his eternal soul) away to Marvel back in the day. And perhaps his family did not take interest in getting a piece of the pie until they started making GAZILLIONS on these characters. But don't we have to acknowledge the ENORMOUS contribution from Kirby himself? I mean, the guy helps create all these characters we love and we in turn shower his surviving family with nothing but insults? IDK guys, but it just doesn't feel right to me.

Isn't there enough money being made where they can give them a little bit (meaning settling out of court) just to make this go away? Won't Marvel (Disney) end up spending most of that money in court anyway, just to honor a 50 yr old contract? They want some cash. Disney makes more than some small countries out there. Give them a fraction of it and let's concentrate on spending some of that money on acquiring some of these characters back from Sony, Fox, Universal and company ...

doctorretroandthepogs
doctorretroandthepogs - 5/27/2010, 10:27 PM
Yeah, Seigel and Shuster got screwed. Jack Kirby on the other hand had a long and illustrious career in comics. He knew the deal. Marvel have very few characters that have independent owners. You will always know because it'll say right on the book. X-23 is one example of a Marvel character that is independently owned. Rob Leifield has been trying to fight Marvel for years to the rights to Cable, Deadpool, Shatterstar, Domino, Stryfe, and Feral. Because those characters were created while he was under contract with Marvel, and appeared in a Marvel produced comic for their first appearance, the argument has no merit. Superman and Batman on the other hand were not. DC Comics didn't exist at the time. Marvel did. That's why the Seigel and Shuster families as well as Bob Kane's family have a legit complaint. The Kirbys however, do not.
NERO
NERO - 5/27/2010, 10:29 PM
Bend over Kirbys and Co. you're about to get bitch slapped and ass raped by the mouse... here's my interpretation of how this will all end:

McLovin
McLovin - 5/27/2010, 10:48 PM
@MPP - Ohhhhh! Yeah, in that case, this sounds like some old fashioned greed to me. Well, they are fighting a loosing battle than. There is no way in Disney's green Earth, they will let their recently acquired milk cow go to waste in some none sense lawsuit. They should have just tried to get a bonus or something if the movies/comics do better on sales (stipulate a specific margin or something). Getting the rights in their entirety is simply not realistic. Thanks for setting me straight on this issue MPP. Knowledge is power ;-)
Tobuttica
Tobuttica - 5/27/2010, 11:10 PM
Hopefully this crap gets taken care of soon so WB can use examples to fight the greedy Superman leeching bastards.
JHowlett
JHowlett - 5/27/2010, 11:27 PM
This is like when your about to get in a bad throw down and you might get your ass kicked, then your big homie steps in just in time to get your back lol. All those empty suits Disney has in their corner no way they're gonna lose.
DogsOfWar
DogsOfWar - 5/28/2010, 12:16 AM
Preach it gtrman! There are always 3 sides to the story:

1st side
2nd side
Somewhere in the middle-truth
McLovin
McLovin - 5/28/2010, 12:38 AM
@gtrman - Bravo! Bravo! Clap,Clap, Clap (starting a "movie style" slow applause and standing ovation)

I dare anyone to make a more intelligent and relevant statement in this matter. Everyone has been so quick to cast the proverbial stones here, but one thing remains obvious (as stated by the illustrious gtrman), abiding by the laws does not always equate to justice or fairness.

@Dogs - yup!
Ranger14
Ranger14 - 5/28/2010, 1:07 AM
gtrman@ I understand everything you are saying and agree with you, except for using wikipedia as an accurate bio story for Kirby. I don't trust much of anything that is relayed through wikipedia. It's the only site my school does not allow me to use as a credible source of information and I think we all know why.
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