As Superman sleeps in his silver Mylar bed at his Fortress of Solitude dreaming of a Lois and Lana catfight, the battle rages on in court between the Siegels and Warner Bros/DC Comics. In another victory for the Siegels and their representative Mark Toberoff, the family has re-acquired the rights to additional Superman material. According to The Trades,the heirs to co-creator Jerry Siegels now own the rights to; two weeks of Superman newspaper comic strips, along with parts of some Action Comics and Superman related comic books.
What does this all mean? The Siegels now own the rights to most of Superman's origin that we are familiar with from the comics and the Donnverse. This includes; Superman's Kryptonian parents, infant Kal-El, the explosion of Krypton, the infant Kal-El being sent from Krypton in a ship, and infant Kal-El crash landing on earth. This is in addition to their ownership of Action Comics #1 which was awarded to the Siegels in 2008. That previous ruling allows them rights to reporter Clark Kent, reporter Lois Lane, their jobs at the Daily Planet working for an obsessive editor, and the romantic dyanmic between Lois, Clark, and Superman.
DC still owns some other elements including; Superman's flying ability and other powers, additional origin elements, Kryptonite, Jimmy Olsen, and Lex Luthor. Warner Bros and DC Comics seem to be staying even keel in regards to the outcome so far.
"Warner and DC Comics are pleased that the court has affirmed that the vast majority of key elements associated with the Superman character that were developed after Action Comics No. 1 are not part of the copyrights that the plaintiffs have recaptured and therefore remain solely owned by DC Comics."
According to previous court documents, DC Comics has received $12.1 million under the terms of its film agreement with Warner Bros for the release of 2006's Superman Returns. The 12.1 million dollars payed out from Warner Bros. to DC Comics along with the initial payment made to DC Comics by Warner Bros of 1.5 Million totals 13.6 million dollars. What this means under the terms of the agreement is that any compensation that was due to DC Comics from Warner Bros between 2003 and 2023 has been covered by the payment of 12.1 million made by Warner Bros to DC Comics for Superman Returns. Due to this completion of compensation, DC Comics is locked into an agreement with Warner Bros for film rights for the next 21 years. This prevents DC Comics from partnering with any other studio to develop a Superman film.
Due to the lack of reversion clause in the contract between WB and DC, the court previously ruled as below:
"Given that the potential for said commencement of filming exists at the present time, plaintiffs have not shown that the Superman film agreement, sans a reversion clause, is below the reasonable range for what a willing buyer would pay for the property from a willing seller. If, however, by 2011, no filming has commenced on a Superman sequel, plaintiffs could bring an accounting action at that time to recoup the damages then realized for the Superman film agreement's failure to contain a reversion clause."
As long as filming has started on a new Superman film by 2011, the film agreement between WB and DC would remain in tact for close to the next 20 years. The question is, would this prevent the Siegels approaching another studio to make a Superman film using the elements that they now have the rights to? I guess the Siegels could always come out with a comic book depicting a 30's version of Superman jumping around after crash landing from Krypton. When this is all said and done, the parties will settle. Until then, good like deciphering the legal speak.
Fri, August 14, 2009 
