Marvel character rights in question

Just reading on Yahoo that the Kirby family, their father created many popular and some unknown characters for Marvel have sued Marvel to reobtain the rights to these characters. Some include SpiderMan, The Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, etc. They say their father was never properly credited or compensated for the work. Marvel and Disney say he was hired to do the work and therefore Marvel owns all the rights. Only time will tell.

This could have huge implications for Universal as well.

Thread reopened - admin error

roadtripper said:

Just reading on Yahoo that the Kirby family, their father created many popular and some unknown characters for Marvel have sued Marvel to reobtain the rights to these characters. Some include SpiderMan, The Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, etc. They say their father was never properly credited or compensated for the work. Marvel and Disney say he was hired to do the work and therefore Marvel owns all the rights. Only time will tell.

This could have huge implications for Universal as well.

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I thought that Stan Lee created SpiderMan, with Steve Ditko
and The Incredible Hulk and the X-Men was created by Stan Lee with Jack Kirby?

new twist

Marvel Sues Comic Book Author Jack Kirby's Heirs Over Rights To Spider-Man, X-Men




January 11, 2010 7:14 a.m. EST

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Topics: Movies, Entertainment, Lifestyle and Arts
Anne Lu - Celebrity News Service News Writer
New York, NY, United States (CNS) - Marvel Entertainment, LLC is suing the heirs of the late comic book artist Jack Kirby over the rights to superheroes Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and X-Men.
The company has filed a suit on Friday in New York in response to the notices sent by Kirby's four children that said the rights to the characters would revert from Marvel to his estates in 2014 to 2019.
Kirby, who died in 1994, co-created many of Marvel's major comic characters in the '60s, including Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and X-Men among many others.
Marvel wants a judge to invalidate the notices, claiming Kirby's works were merely "work-made-for-hire," meaning the company is the real author of the superhero characters under the 1909 Copyright Act.
But the heirs maintained that Kirby authored the characters under his own team and were subsequently published by Marvel.
It was not until 1972 that Kirby granted Marvel the copyrights to his works, and by the same grant, Kirby's family sent statutory notices of termination.



Read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7017484435?Marvel%20Sues%20Comic%20Book%20Author%20Jack%20Kirby's%20Heirs%20Over%20Rights%20To%20Spider-Man,%20X-Men#ixzz0cLWeub8u