Superman, first created in comic form in the 1930s, has become one the most valuable franchises for Warner Bros
London:
Warner Bros Pictures hasclaimed a major victory on its fight to defend its rights tothe Superman franchise.
A Los Angeles federal judge legally denied the efforttaken by heirs of Superman co-creator Joseph Shuster toreclaim their 50 per cent interest from the fabled Kryptoniansuperhero, reported Ace Showbiz.
Judge Otis D Wright II of Federal District Court ruledthat a 1992 binding agreement between Shuster's sister Jean &brother Frank and DC Comics had prevented the siblings fromattempting to terminate copyrights.
In the agreement, Jean forfeited rights in return forWarners' settling of Frank's debts and payment of USD 25,000 ayear for the rest of her life."The court finds that the 1992 agreement, whichrepresented the Shuster heirs' opportunity to renegotiate theprior grants of Joe Shuster's copyrights, superseded andreplaced all prior grants of the Superman copyrights. The 1992agreement thus represents the parties' operative agreementand... is not subject to termination," Wright said.
The judge added, "By taking advantage of thisopportunity, she Jean exhausted the single opportunityprovided by statute to the Shuster heirs to revisit."Superman, first created in comic form in the 1930s, hasbecome one the most valuable franchises for Warner Bros. Thelegendary character has generated over USD 500 milliondomestically from five movie adaptations. It also grossedbillions of dollars from toys, games, comic books and TVseries such as Smallville.
With the ruling, Warners and DC Comics are now allowed tomove forward with their plans to produce the sequel toupcoming Man of Steel if the big-budget movie provessuccessful.
The studio can also move forward to produce DC'sJustice League movie, which would have been impossiblewithout the appearance of Superman.
A Los Angeles federal judge legally denied the efforttaken by heirs of Superman co-creator Joseph Shuster toreclaim their 50 per cent interest from the fabled Kryptoniansuperhero, reported Ace Showbiz.
Judge Otis D Wright II of Federal District Court ruledthat a 1992 binding agreement between Shuster's sister Jean &brother Frank and DC Comics had prevented the siblings fromattempting to terminate copyrights.
In the agreement, Jean forfeited rights in return forWarners' settling of Frank's debts and payment of USD 25,000 ayear for the rest of her life."The court finds that the 1992 agreement, whichrepresented the Shuster heirs' opportunity to renegotiate theprior grants of Joe Shuster's copyrights, superseded andreplaced all prior grants of the Superman copyrights. The 1992agreement thus represents the parties' operative agreementand... is not subject to termination," Wright said.
The judge added, "By taking advantage of thisopportunity, she Jean exhausted the single opportunityprovided by statute to the Shuster heirs to revisit."Superman, first created in comic form in the 1930s, hasbecome one the most valuable franchises for Warner Bros. Thelegendary character has generated over USD 500 milliondomestically from five movie adaptations. It also grossedbillions of dollars from toys, games, comic books and TVseries such as Smallville.
With the ruling, Warners and DC Comics are now allowed tomove forward with their plans to produce the sequel toupcoming Man of Steel if the big-budget movie provessuccessful.
The studio can also move forward to produce DC'sJustice League movie, which would have been impossiblewithout the appearance of Superman.
