Kirby Children File Claims on Marvel Characters

Kirby Children File Claims on Marvel Characters

The children of Jack Kirby serve 45 "notices of termination" over characters "The King" created, including Thor, the Hulk and the X-Men.

News
By bsprecher - Sep 21, 2009 12:09 AM EST
Filed Under: Marvel Comics
Source: L.A.Times

Four of Jack "King" Kirby's children have filed 45 "notices of termination" to Disney, Marvel Comics, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox to regain copyright ownership of a number of characters created by their father, including Thor, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the X-Men and many others.

Kirby's children are filing under copyright law, which states that creators can seek to regain copyrights 56 years after first publication and can file their intent to up to 10 years prior. Kirby's children are eligible to claim their father's portion of copyrights to the Fantastic Four in 2017, to the Hulk in 2018, to the X-Men in 2019, among others. These copyrights would then last for an additional 39 years.

Marvel has declined to comment, but a spokesman for Disney said:

"The notices involved are an attempt to terminate rights seven to ten years from now and involve claims that are fully considered in the acquisition [of Marvel].".

This seems like normal procedure and their no indication that this lawsuit will affect any of the Marvel character movies currently in development.
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Hesse
Hesse - 9/21/2009, 12:14 AM
looks like someone wants a piece of that 4 billion
Roscoe182
Roscoe182 - 9/21/2009, 12:14 AM
ahh gutted i just submitted this
Roscoe182
Roscoe182 - 9/21/2009, 12:16 AM
infact mine has been completely deleted how come ???
bsprecher
bsprecher - 9/21/2009, 12:23 AM
@Hesse: They actually won't make any additional money for about 10 years.

@Roscoe: Yeah, yours posted about two minutes after mine. We only post one article about each piece of news. Sorry, mate!

@MultiPurposePoni: They're just claiming what is theirs. Imagine if your dad created a bunch of characters that a studio was making millions off of and you were only seeing pennies...
Roscoe182
Roscoe182 - 9/21/2009, 12:24 AM
no man its cool i just wonderd thnx for lettin me no tho .
Roscoe182
Roscoe182 - 9/21/2009, 12:26 AM
yer man id b pretty pissd if my man old man had created something that was makeing some 1 els a hell of a lot of cash
Bijous
Bijous - 9/21/2009, 12:27 AM
@Brent/Roscoe: Totally! I would be pissed! I hope they get what's coming to them...but I also hope they don't delay any CBM's!
Roscoe182
Roscoe182 - 9/21/2009, 12:28 AM
yer thats the after effect i can see coming a load of films bein put on hold or even stopped cus of this it can only spell bad news either way
bsprecher
bsprecher - 9/21/2009, 12:30 AM
@Roscoe: It could delay things, if the Kirby's play hardball, but the longer things are delayed, the less money is rolling in for them, so it probably won't make a huge impact.
Roscoe182
Roscoe182 - 9/21/2009, 12:31 AM
man i hope your right . and yer that's a good point
satanors
satanors - 9/21/2009, 12:40 AM
Your old man did something, some company gave him a platform to do something, YOU DID NOT DO ANYTHING.
Hate Freeloaders.
Roscoe182
Roscoe182 - 9/21/2009, 12:45 AM
some ppl allways want more . i can settle this right now give me the rights il let marvel n disney use um 4 films n comics but i get all the money god how simple is that problem solved no need to thank me all in a days work of a moron
Denn1s
Denn1s - 9/21/2009, 12:47 AM
what a bunch of assholes. siegels, shusters and kirbies...
bw
bw - 9/21/2009, 12:48 AM
don't see how they can claim to"creating" thor. he's been around in norse mythology for thousands of years. most everyone knows thursday "thors-day" is named after him.
Roscoe182
Roscoe182 - 9/21/2009, 12:49 AM
that doesnt really come in to play with thor tho but i no what you mean
tazmaniak
tazmaniak - 9/21/2009, 12:54 AM
I have a question about copyrights.It says you can seek the rights 56 years after first publication.It says "seek", and not "claim", which leads me to believe that the rights don't automatically revert back.Would the family have to actually make a good case to win back the rights?Would Marvel/Disney be able to renew, even if the family wanted to claim the properties?Would they also have to make a good case?Also, what about Stan Lee?He has rights to the other half of the properties.He seems to have a good relationship with Marvel/Disney, as they will begin working on new projects.What if he wants the copyrights to remain with them?Would that weaken the case of Kirby's family, having the original creator on Marvel/Disney's side?
NERO
NERO - 9/21/2009, 12:58 AM
Jesus, If Jack wanted to dispute the rights during his lifetime I'm fine with that, but his kids? Come on. They had no involvement in these characters creation. I think there needs to be a generational clause to patents and copy write law that states following generations cannot lobby or sue for any more rights or percentage if the suit itself is not filed by the creator before their death. What they (Kirby's kids)are angry about is that Jack got his percentage during his life time that percentage was then divided four ways in their inheritance and didn't amount to much per heir. Each wants the same amount their father got for doing.... Not a damn thing, same for the Shusters and Siegels. That just pisses me off.
NERO
NERO - 9/21/2009, 1:11 AM
@ Poni and as the Shusters and Siegels have proven the contract can always be side stepped by filing suit on particular details of ownership, things that are not directly singled out in the contract, such as krypton, Superboy, etc things that were not spelled out directly in the contract but easily implied to have been included if by meaning Superman: the contract meant the entire comic and its contents or by meaning Superman: just the character himself. Common sense would dictate the sale of rights of a comic title included everything developed for that title, but some judges seem to lack that level of common sense. In the end the fans are the ones that suffer.
JYCowboy
JYCowboy - 9/21/2009, 1:21 AM
Wow,

This is getting out of hand. I see all comic companies getting with thier legal teams to hammer out ownership issues now. Maybe these companies should go pre-emptive and pay a compensation fee in exchange for non-dispute agreements with each serviving estate.

How can the Kirby clan claim Spiderman rights? Jack didn't create him with Stan. He drew him in other books but really can't lay claim to his creation. Maybe like Superman, they are claiming a spacfic element or aspect of the character was Jack's input like ... web shooters?

At any rate, I figure Stan will be dragged into court clearify things.

The real sad thing is, I knew a guy who was big time Kirby fan and got to meet him and take him to the airport after a convention. Jack was a real sweet guy and very generous. I don't think he would have liked his kin doing this. It would have broken his heart to see this.
NERO
NERO - 9/21/2009, 1:22 AM
@gtrman Also screwed or not a contract is a contract. If the creators agreed, signed on the dotted line, and took money for it the deal is done. It's the creators fault for not doing due diligence to make sure the contract was fair. I hold up the example of Superman's creators vs. Bob Kane the creator of Batman. Siegel and Shuster signed off on the contract without legal consultation, they got a bad deal. Kane was offered nearly the same deal, but took the contract to a lawyer who reworked it and included that Kane would receive a decent percentage in the form of royalties based on gross sales of the merchandising baring Batmen's image. The result; Superman's creators scraped by filing suit in 1974 that ended in a ruling for DC, who then offered the creators a pension as a means of making it up to them even though they lost the case. Kane on the other hand lead by all accounts a life of leisure never really having to work again. Kane was once quoted that going to a lawyer to check the contract was, "The best $80 I ever spent."
tazmaniak
tazmaniak - 9/21/2009, 1:25 AM
If this is just about the money, I could see Disney resolving it soon.They would probably prefer some money now, rather than waiting 10 years from now.Let's hope it's just about the check.

Also, I was reading on another site how this could be beneficial.They could just decide to leave the rights with Marvel/Disney, for a fee.If the family wins the rights, that means they get the Spider-Man and X-Men film rights, which they could sell back to Marvel/Disney.

On a negative note, they could sell the properties to the highest bidder.Can you imagine if someone else offered them more money than Disney could match?There is no way the Marvel Universe could survive the loss of those characters.WB/DC could snatch them up.Hell, someone with deep pockets could use those characters to start a brand new company.
NERO
NERO - 9/21/2009, 1:29 AM
I really wish DC would settle with S&S' families in regards to Superman. Just lay it on the table, "How much do you want?" Get the amount slide them an ironclad rights release pay them and be done with it.
NERO
NERO - 9/21/2009, 1:33 AM
True. But obviously Kirby, never felt "screwed" or he would have sued, one would think... He never did.
NERO
NERO - 9/21/2009, 1:38 AM
It just feels like greed to me.
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