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EXCLUSIVE: ‘Superman’ Lawsuit Delay Lifted; Depositions of Siegel and Shuster Families to Begin Immediately
From www.hollywoodreporter.com:
A federal judge has just lifted the delay in the long-running Superman litigation, setting the stage for Warner Bros. to proceed with key depositions of the families of Man of Steel creators Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel.
As we reported last month, the judge overseeing the high-profile Superman case delayed the matter indefinitely as lawyers for Warner Bros.’ DC Comics and the heirs of Shuster and Siegel awaited an appeal of a procedural ruling that could have taken many months. Warners challenged that ruling, and now U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright has modified the order, allowing the studio to restart its information-gathering and “proceed with full discovery of [heirs] Joanne Siegel, Laura Siegel Larson, Jean Peavy and Mark Peavy.”
The Nov. 16 order is the latest in the cartoonishly nasty battle between Warners and the Superman heirs over rights to the lucrative character. After a judge ruled a few years back that the studio might lose certain copyrights associated with the Man of Steel, Warners sued Marc Toberoff, the attorney for the families, claiming he improperly convinced them to back out of deals and terminate their copyright assignments relating to Superman.
Now, as Warners fast-tracks its planned Christopher Nolan-produced, Zack Snyder-directed Superman reboot, Toberoff is fighting back agressively against that lawsuit, filing a host of motions attempting to have the case dismissed and Warners punished for targeting him personally. Now, thanks to this ruling, Warners will soon have its chance to ask questions of Toberoff’s clients.
Warners lead attorney Dan Petrocelli tells THR that the depositions, which were initially scheduled for Nov. 15, will be rescheduled immediately. We’ve left word for Toberoff and will update will his comment.
I’ve said it before and will again, this lawsuit is complete B.S.! I’m all for creator rights, but Siegel and Shuster got theirs during the original Superman Movie. I argued on that when this last reared its ugly head. I’m as mad at these money-grubbing family members as I am with DC for that comment that Superman’s marketability wasn’t viable because he’s no longer relevent to today’s audience. No one cares about Superman, they care about the money. The character’s been so busy fighting off continuity issues, fascist moguls, supervillains and trying to reconnect with the people down on the ground when in reality he should’ve been looking ahead at the people producing him. Geez…
I agree 100%. It ceased being just Siegel and Shuster’s character alone when other creative teams latched on. Krypton was there from the start, yes. And the Superboy comics gave us the Kents, Lex Luthor, and Bizarro. There might need to be some concessions made on those fronts, but Superman himself was largely molded in the 40s radio program. That’s where we got Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, the Daily Planet, and Kryptonite. He was a very different character in the comics before the radio program, and I don’t think Siegel and Shuster have much of a claim after the payoff in the ’70s. Then again, when DC and WB made the comment about Big Blue no longer being marketable, maybe they deserve the slap.