Variety is reporting that the family of the co-creator of "Superman" has been given more control of the character.
Judge Stephen Larson ruled Wednesday that the family of Jerry Siegel, has “recaptured” rights to additional works, including the first two weeks of the daily Superman newspaper comic-strips. The first Superman story was published in 1938 in Action Comics No. 1. For $130, Jerry Siegel and co-creator Joel Schuster signed a release in favor of DC’s predecessor, Detective Comics, and a 1974 court decision ruled they signed away their copyrights forever.
While ownership of the Man of Steel is one point of all this legal activity, the real issue is money and how much Warner Bros. and DC owe the Siegels from profits they collected from Superman since 1999, when the heirs’ recapture of Siegel’s copyright became effective.