The battle between Stan Lee Media, Inc. and Marvel over the rights to The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and more of the company’s most iconic characters has gotten a bit more interesting.
The comic book legend’s former company has filed a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against Marvel and parent company Disney, demanding the maximum amount of damages available to them. And given the success of The Avengers, the stakes are high.
While Stan Lee himself has gotten his contracts with Marvel and Disney all sorted out, the nagging issue centers on two documents signed by Stan Lee in 1998: one handing the rights to all Lee characters, past and present to Marvel, and one signing them over to Stan Lee Media, Inc. (SLMI) The problem is, the Marvel agreement came second.
At least those are the claims made by the SLMI in the lawsuit (read it here, courtesy of Deadline) filed on their behalf with the Colorado courts. After having sought bankruptcy protection in 2000, the company now claims that Stan Lee signed the rights to both existing and future developed characters over to Stan Lee Entertainment, Inc. (which would ultimately become SLMI) in October 1998. Lee again signed a document “amending, modifying and confirming the validity of the 1998 SLMI Copyright Assignment” in 2000, which was filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission and the United States Copyright Office.
That may seem a bit jargony, but not out of the ordinary for a creative figure reinforcing the rights to their creations. Lee was reportedly paid for the rights in shares of SLMI, and named Chairman of the Board. But here’s where things get potentially troubling. The lawsuit states that:
Oddly, in November, 1998, Stan Lee signed a written agreement with Marvel Enterprises, Inc. in which he purportedly assigned to Marvel the rights to the Characters. However, Lee no longer owned those rights since they had been assigned to SLEI previously. Accordingly, the Marvel agreement actually assigned nothing.
Since Marvel never filed such a transferal of rights with the Copyright Office when it the Disney merger was finalized, SLMI is claiming entitlement “to the billions of dollars that Disney has generated [...]within the past three (3) years from motion pictures, and from other media and merchandising” based on The Avengers and others. $5.5 billion, to be exact. This legal quagmire has been brought to court and dismissed half a dozen times, leading one to believe that the same will happen again, but that kind of money is nothing to scoff at. A cash grab on the part of SLMI? Certainly. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have a case.
This isn’t the first time that Marvel has encountered legal issues with some of its creators, having most recently snubbed Thanos creator Jim Starlin (that’s been patched over, luckily). As much as we can sympathize with Stan Lee (the shares of SLMI used to purchase the rights became nearly worthless when the company went bust), the case is a difficult one to weigh in on just yet.
Obviously, the validity of SLMI’s claims – and Lee or Marvel’s explanations (if they have them) – will need to be heard to get some idea of how the case will play out and what role the statute of limitations will play in the proceedings. It’s unlikely Disney will part with that amount of money freely, so expect this to be just the beginning of another chapter in the battle, not the final blow.
We’ll keep you up to date on the suit as it proceeds. Hopefully, it’s over sooner rather than later, since Marvel isn’t showing any signs of slowing down their film development.
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Follow me on Twitter @andrew_dyce.
Source: Deadline
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Valid point = 1.5 billion from Avengers (ENRON AND BP MADE MONEY TOO. SO DID DONALD TRUMP. WE ALL SEE THE VALUE IN THAT)
Valid point = unanimously agreed on as the bast superhero move ever made, Avengers(WHO IS THIS THAT IS AGREEING? I SEE NO STUDIES SO YOU’RE JUST ASSUMING IT’S THE BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO TASTE IN FILM)
Valid point = public demand for sequel after sequel for marvel movies . (A SEQUEL WAS ALREADY IN PLANS BEFORE THE MOVIE RELEASED. THE AVENGERS MOVIE HAS BEEN DEMANDED SINCE THE EARLY 2000′s AND EVEN IN THE LATE 90′S CONSIDERING IT’S ONE OF THE TOP LINEUPS OF COMICS FEATURING THE MOST POPULAR COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS OF ALL TIME! So of course it was in demand. There was demand for Star Wars ep.s 1-3. There is demand for more Clone Wars. There are groups out their still demanding an X-Men 4. Name alone means a lot more than most things when it comes to base success and with very little intelligence into how marketing works you’d know this, Stark. )
So next point?
Stan Lee Media has been suing people left and right for years and lost every case just as they will lose this one. Just look up their history on Wikipedia or do a google search. I don’t know why Screen Rant is giving this lawsuit any merit. It was already dismissed multiple times.
The other issue is how Stan Lee can assign rights to creations he never owned in the first place. All the work Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did for Marvel was work for hire. Neither Lee or Kirby ever owed the rights to any of the characters they created for Marvel. Marvel had sole ownership.
They probably consider this a newsworthy story because it hasn’t been settled yet, and the company contains the name of the guy who is acknowledged as the face of Marvel comics, but you’re right, it’s just the latest in a long line of lawsuits that’s gonna get thrown out of court probably.
Legally, it’s a good question how Stan obtained legal rights to his characters that he was able to sell to Marvel in (I think?) 1998. Stan’s uncle, Martin Goodman, was the original owner of Marvel Comics and that probably gave Stan more leverage than most comics folks when it came time to negotiate a contract in order to receive a portion of the millions of dollars that the characters he was associated with generated from movies, tv shows, and all kinds of associated merchandise.
But from a moral point of view, those and many other characters would not exist without the people who created and wrote and drew them and they should be rewarded financially because they made lots of other people rich off their hard work and creative vision.
Also, on the face of it to the average person this news story looks like Stan Lee is suing Marvel Comics for compensation for characters he is closely associated with. So people are going to want to read about it, even though this case is pretty much a futile appeal.
If you look up the guy who started the company with Stan it’s pretty funny. His name’s Peter Paul, and he’s got a long history of… well, he’s got a pretty entertainingly checkered past. Pretty sure he’s in jail at the moment so I can’t quite figure out if he’s got anything at all to do with this current case or not.
$85 an hour! Seriously I don’t know why more people haven’t tried this, I work two shifts, 2 hours in the day and 2 in the evening…And whats awesome is Im working from home so I get more time with my kids. Heres where I went, Blue31dotcom
Love my job, since I’ve been bringing in $82h… I sit at home, music playing while I work in front of my new iMac that I got now that I’m making it online… Red97 dotc om
like Todd replied I’m taken by surprise that anybody able to make $4399 in four weeks on the internet. have you seen this webpage Red97 DOtcom
Like other users I’m surprised by the determination you have at selling people onto that site. Clearly it’s a malicious malware site filled to the brim with nice viruses, Trojans and bugs for my computer, I’m sorry but I’m not in the mood for a Gigabyte full of Computer Cancer!
“Let me get this straight. You think that Disney, one of the richest companies in the world, is spending billions to create great films you believe you own, and who spend millions on lawyers? And your plan is to sue them? Good luck.”
Emphasis added. Gotta love that Lucius.
I hope stan Lee could take over marvel studio and Disney too.
^???^
Scree Rant, please fix your spam filter. I keep seeing this useless comment all over your site.
..How about, …No? How about you try to come up with a better insult? Or better yet if you have a problem with my statement why not try to prove me wrong? There’s an idea there. Trying to prove your point. That’s not a new concept. Less traveled maybe. But not new. Not by a long shot. And I know a C-L-O-W-N who would be offended by your using the an individual who dresses up in makeup and costume and performs acts for the amusement of others in many cases children including children. Luckily the worst he ever did to seek vengeance on clown-haters is chase after one with a balloon chainsaw making motor noises. See folks, when they have no valid point they just lamely insult you. That’s the first sign your right, people can’t come up with a good argument.
shhsh
Id rather have spam then to have to type captchas.
I’d rather have spam than jersey……..
Valid point = 1.5 billion from Avengers
Valid point = unanimously agreed on as the bast superhero move ever made, Avengers
Valid point = public demand for sequel after sequel for marvel movies .
Just go away Bob. Are u related to that Jersey jerk in some way? Sounds like it. If you don’t like marvel movies, don’t watch them, the rest of us will.
why a better insult -bob-. you are trollin´around and put again the -avengers- debatte in the pot. what are you expectin, i think 99 % of this site loves -the avengers-. go on another site to make a fantastic movie down, you troll. and then people like you always say that people like me or -your mammy- can´t come up with a good argumen. i´ve never met people like you in real life,they are just ghosting around the sites to make something good to in your opinion something bad.
Hey Bob he’s referring to Silly Sally or the person clearly trying to scam people out of money. Don’t worry Silly Sally it wasn’t working, nobody was falling for it, if anything I saved you the hassle of working it out for yourself.
But you Bob, I’m almost certain he wasn’t talking about you.
I am starting to feel the same way, Stark.
I’d rather have spam than a wannabe internet toughguy who runs from an argument and starts making random comments in a peonic attempt to insult someone proving they are, in fact, just an ignorant child who can’t backup their own opinions. Ay, there Stark? Now I’m gonna start Trolling you just because you decided to act like a small child in need of learning a dire lesson, you filthy north-milwaukian. lol
Haha!
-merdan- you have to go out into the real world in order to interact with them. So maybe you should get out of your room occasionally and you’ll meet more than just teenagers online with no ability to back up their opinions with facts. And you should really consider going back to school considering that half of your comment was grammatical jibberish. IT’S CALLED SCHOOL, SON! How do you expect to be taken seriously with your simple childish argument reverb if you can’t even create a proper sentence?
So your point is your right since your surrounded by tons of other people who will blindly love the same movie as you? That’s not exact grounds for a movie being good (Let the record be known that I enjoyed The Avengers). Bob’s right being a good movie isn’t the same as being THE BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME. Who agreed on that? Where are the studios that prove people around the work think it’s the best movie? This might surprise you but there are actual human beings out there right now who hate Superhero movies, I know right? GASP! SHOCK! HORROR! How can that be? It’s hard to establish what the best movie is as it’s something that’d mostly in the end come down to the opinion of the majority rather then of actual quality.
1.5 Billion is still a lot of money though, I don’t get Bob’s point of bringing up the fact that Enron, BP and Donald Trump have made a lot of money. So? What do any of those guys have to do with this? The point still stands, The Avengers made a crap ton of money. When you see the latest video game do you say “Well big deal, Activison, EA Games and THQ all made games as well!”
Last point. If Bob knew marketing he’d know that making a product and trying to rely on brand name alone has been a pitfall a lot of people have fallen for before. There’s been films in the past that have failed since the creators assumed their fans would just come back, turns out when your insanely loyal to something your more of a critic to that
That comment was a reply to Stark’s “I’d rather have spam than jersey……”
James, you’re right. And I never said 1.5 Billion isn’t a lot of money. I was merely using the examples of the others to prove that making a lot of money doesn’t make it good.
And of course marketing on brand name alone isn’t a smart thing to do. It’s bound to cause a backlash even if it starts as a success. More than once movies have had trouble getting off the ground cause of the names alone (for example video game movies. people hear a video game title in a movie and immediately tend to cringe before going to see it) and in many cases to carrying of the name has brought an abrupt end to the success (on a title factor alone many fans of the series agree they’d like Final Fantasy Spirits Within a lot more if it didn’t have the Final Fantasy part in the title.) .
But in this case that’s not what happened. Build up from previous movie successes in a sequential release lineup over the past several years, current ongoing multi-generation popularity of the characters through multiple other venues on their own and extensive marketing of the characters and titles through the venues were the largest attributing factor the movies first week box office success. And it’s a known fact that first weekend and first week box office reports do have an affect on the next months gross. In fact that decides how long it stays in which theatres before being shifted to the ‘dollar theatres’. It’s a snowball affect that’s created. Avengers was by far the easiest marketing job created in the last decade.
iam from germany,so it´s my schoolenglish. oh, yes it was again the avengers discussions, and that you are trollin´around. my motherlanguage is german/turkish and i know a little bit english. not emough to discuss clearfully,because i haven´t every word in my mind but enough to make a comment. i think in your and my country are some an-alphabets which can´t write their own mother language. like you see i´m not from that sort. you will laugh, but a german football/soccer manager who must talk often english would be happy if they would have my poor english-knowings. how many languages can you speak ? so,i hope you read this to let it be,next time,because that is respectless.
you are one of those teachers who say things like – go into the real wprld, get out of your room, meet real people, the internet nerds are all stupid teenagers- and that stuff. but, that comment, i think comes from peoples wwhich have that problem themselfs. and i have a great life, i don´t care if you believe that, because i have no complexes. so, now translate that to german,but not with google translate. there you will see how hard it is to find the right words from a foreign language,my friend.