Back in August, Stan Lee Media Inc. filed a lawsuit in order to reclaim the rights of the "Conan" character most recently seen played by Jason Momoa in this years
Conan the Barbarian 3D. The company was founded by Lee, but now operates independently. (back when this news first broke, many assumed it was "The Man" himself was the one seeking the rights)
The Hollywood Reporter reveal that SLMI are hoping to reclaim the rights as they now have a court recognized board of directors. The current owners say it's too late for that, as do Marvel who the company are also pursuing in an attempt to convince judges that rights to those characters were unlawfully transferred by Lee. As for "Conan", the lawsuit is being aimed against Conan Sales Co., Paradox Entertainment, and others who aided the allegedly improper transfer of Conan in 2002. Here are some further excerpts from their report.
Back then, a bankruptcy judge stopped transfer of SLMI assets, but allowed Conan Sales Co. to reclaim the character it once held per a "Settlement Approval Order." Now, in the current lawsuit, SLMI says the judge's order should be declared void because 1,800 SLMI shareholders were not provided sufficient notice.
Last week, the defendants moved to dismiss the lawsuit on a variety of points, but especially because the complaint was served on an "untimely" basis. The motion to dismiss says that SLMI had an opportunity to challenge the order during the bankruptcy process and failed to do so. The defendants argue that the Bankruptcy Code doesn't require notices to shareholders, and that the bankruptcy judge had found a notice of a hearing to be sufficient. In order for SLMI to win, the defendants say that their adversary needs to show that a fraud on the court was perpetrated, and nothing in SLMI's "vague" allegations meet that standard, they say. Instead, the defendants believe that the lawsuit to reclaim Conan upon the film's release was an "ambush" that was "intended to, and did, embarrass" defendants at a "very important time."
At this point, things don't look too good for SLMI, with a dismissal having been requested due to the lack of any substantial allegations and the fact that it would cause the company who have spent all this time bringing the character back to the big screen, "substantial undue prejudice." Of course,
Conan the Barbarian 3D was far from a financial hit, ultimately grossing less than $50 million worldwide on a reported budget of $90 million. Right now, it doesn't seem as if SLMI are bothered about that as the battle rages on...