Stan Lee's former company - Stan Lee Media, Inc. - filed a copyright infringement complaint against Walt Disney Company today, claiming that they never held the copyrights to the various Marvel Comics characters we have seen up on the big screen over the past few years..
“Defendant The Walt Disney Company has represented to the public that it, in fact, owns the copyright to these characters as well as to hundreds of other characters created by Stan Lee. Those representations made to the public by The Walt Disney Company are false.”
You can read the legal document in full
here, but basically SLMI are looking for “the maximum statutory damages allowable”, meaning a nice slice of the $5.5 billion they say that the Walt Disney Company has made from superhero movies and merchandise based on Lee's characters, AND full control over anything done with these characters in the future. What does this mean for our beloved Marvel Cinematic Universe? Only time will tell. We will keep you updated on any developments.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.