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DC Cinematic Universe ( The James Gunn era)

Well, here's a potential can of worms:

DC Comics Sued Over Superman's Foreign Copyright Protections
The executor of the estate of a “Superman” co-creator sued DC Comics Inc. and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. Friday, attempting to block use of the superhero character and story in several major foreign markets, including in an upcoming July movie premiere.

The assignment of the rights to the Superman story under copyright law in countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia automatically terminated 25 years after the author’s death, according to the complaint filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The suit, filed by Mark Warren Peary, said co-creator of the Superman character and story Joseph Shuster passed away in 1992, and co-creator Jerome Siegel passed away in 1996. Peary filed the suit individually and in his capacity as executor of Shuster’s estate.
 
I know zip about international copyright law, but here's what the suit claims:
At issue are foreign copyrights to the original Superman character and story, coauthored by Jerome Siegel and Shuster. Though Siegel and Shuster assigned worldwide Superman rights to DC’s predecessor in 1938 “for a mere $130 ($65 each), the copyright laws of countries with the British legal tradition—including Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia—contain provisions automatically terminating such assignments 25 years after an author’s death, vesting in the Shuster Estate the co-author’s undivided copyright interest in such countries,” the suit said.

“Shuster died in 1992 and Siegel in 1996. By operation of law, Shuster’s foreign copyrights automatically reverted to his estate in 2017 in most of these territories (and in 2021 in Canada). Yet Defendants continue to exploit Superman across these jurisdictions without the Shuster Estate’s authorization—including in motion pictures, television series, and merchandise—in direct contravention of these countries’ copyright laws, which require the consent of all joint copyright owners to do so.”
https://deadline.com/2025/01/superm...iscovery-dc-comics-summer-release-1236274354/
 
I'm confused. If the rights to the character expired, then shouldn't that make Superman public domain in those countries?

If I understand this correctly, the argument is that if the author gave away or sold the rights to something the publisher's rights would expire 25 years after the author's death, but the author's rights expire 70 years after the author's death, so the rights would revert to the estate of the author for years 25-70 after the authors death.
 
So I guess the clumsy credit we have on properties currently;

"Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family."


is gonna get a chunk longer sometime soon. ;)
 
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I'm confused. If the rights to the character expired, then shouldn't that make Superman public domain in those countries? Surely that wouldn't be grounds to block WB from releasing a movie.
No, the rights would revert back to the Estate (at least that's the Estate's legal argument <--- Read they want money/a new deal for those territories.)
 
How It Should Have Ended's Super Cafe: I Have A Dog Now
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:lol:
Of all of these kind of videos, I think these are still some of the most consistently funny.
 
So it appears the "sneak peek" of Superman we were promised during the Puppy Bowl was just an edited version of the existing trailer. :shifty:
 
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