SUPERMAN must leap one nasty legal battle before heading to the screen

Movie about 13 years agoby

The dispute over who owns the rights to the Superman franchise is getting nastier the closer that Warner Bros. is getting to it's Superman: Man of Steel reboot. For those of you not aware, Warners is in a legal dispute with the heirs of co-creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, which stems "from a 2008 court ruling that the Siegels are entitled to terminate the copyrights to some—but not all—of Superman’s defining characteristics, such as his costume, Clark Kent and his origin story, as described in the first editions of Action Comics."

Despite years of court battles, including the studio's pending lawsuit against the heirs’ lawyer Marc Toberoff for allegedly interfering with contracts, a final decision hasn't been made on whether the Shusters and Siegels can take back other key elements of the Superman mythology (Lex Luthor and Kryptonite).

These legal issues have also caused problems for Toberoff to sell distribution rights for Superman to another studio(and pressure Warners into a settlement). Toberoff has now appealed the limited grant of rights to the 9th Circuit, hoping that the appeals court will finally determine who owns what.

Here is what Toberoff had to say:

”It’s cutting to the chase, it is widely recognized that Judge Larson’s rulings on summary judgment largely favored the Siegels in upholding the validity of their termination as to Action Comics No.1, containing the core Superman format and characters.”

Hopefully, Warner Bros. can resolve these legal matters befor they lose certain rights to the character in 2013. No need to panic, the reboot is scheduled to arrive in 2012, but the studio would not be able to pursue sequels. The studio and lead lawyer Daniel Petrocelli can breathe easier for awhile, though. The financial issues with the Siegels and Shusters will be on hold pending the latest appeal.

Here is what Warner Bros. had to say:

“DC Comics and Warner Bros. are fully confident that the trial court's rulings against the Siegels are correct and will be affirmed on appeal."

I hope that this get's resolved soon so that we can see sequels, that is if this reboot turns out be good. With Zach Snyder and Christopher Nolan involved, how can it not be. Share your thoughts below!