Disney Wins Over Stan Lee Media in Marvel Copyright Lawsuit

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

Turns out the Walt Disney Company really does own the rights to the Marvel characters created by Stan Lee, at least according to a federal judge today. U.S. District Judge William J. Martinez Thursday granted with prejudice Disney’s motion to dismiss Stan Lee Media’s multibillion-dollar lawsuit superhero copyright suit. In his 11-page order (read it here) Martinez did little to hide his annoyance with the litigious SLMI. “Plaintiff has tried time and again to claim ownership of those copyrights; the litigation history arising out of the 1998 Agreement stretches over more than a decade and at least six courts,” he wrote of the company’s many legal moves.

This latest attempt started in mid-October 2012 when SLMI filed a copyright infringement complaint seeking the profits from the $5.5 billion it said that Disney made from Marvel superhero movies and merchandise based on characters created by Lee. In its suit, SLMI claimed that Lee, who no longer has anything to do with the company with his name, signed over the rights to comic book characters like Iron Man, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Spider-Man and many more that he created or would create to its corporate predecessor in October 1998 for shares in the company. In November 1998, Lee signed an agreement with Marvel handing over the rights to the same characters. In late November 2012, Disney, who purchased Marvel for $4 billion in 2009, filed its motion to dismiss, calling the lawsuit is “completely frivolous.” The November 30 motion to dismiss, like the initial suit by SLMI, was filed in Colorado.

Judge Martinez obviously agreed with Disney and he wants to make sure that SLMI think twice before trying to use the courts in such a manner again. “Taking its cue from the Southern District of New York and the Central District of California, this Court holds that Plaintiff is precluded from re-litigating the issue of its ownership of copyrights based on the 1998 Agreement, which issue was decided against it,” he wrote today. Disney was represented by James Quinn, R. Bruce Rich and Randi W. Singer of New York’s Weil Gotshal & Manges and Frederick J. Baumann and Holly Ludwig of Denver firm Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons. Stan Lee Media was represented by John McDermott of the Denver office of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and Robert Chapman and Jon Jamison Hill out of the LA’s Eisner Kahan Gorry Chapman Ross & Jaffe.

Source..... http://www.deadline.com

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Disney Distribution Deals for 10 Specific Characters says to Viacom, "We want Our Characters Back"

When Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) bought Marvel for $4 billion in cash and stock, the House of Mouse didn't secure all the benefits of owning the superhero portfolio.

Sony (NYSE: SNE) still owned the rights to produce and distribute the Spider-Man and Ghost Rider franchises. Twenty-First Century Fox's (NASDAQ: FOX) forerunner, News Corp., held the rights to the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Daredevil. And Marvel did come with the production rights to the rest of its own portfolio, but with distribution deals for 10 specific characters via Viacom's (NASDAQ: VIAB) Paramount Pictures.

That's a side effect of Marvel's complicated financing deal from 2005, which set the stage for the studio to take control of its own destiny. But as I said, Marvel also signed away some important rights in the process, and allowed Sony, Fox, and Paramount to grab a slice of Marvel's financial success.

Disney is busy getting its superheroes back. The company just bought back the distribution rights for back-catalog titles Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger from Paramount. Financial terms are unknown, but the payout is probably smaller than the last superhero buyback.

In 2010, Disney acquired the rights to release The Avengers and Iron Man 3. Fellow Fool Tim Beyers worked his calculator to the melting point to figure out that Paramount would get something like $90 million out of the Avengers arrangement, and something on that level for Iron Man 3 as well. Given that the new repurchase deals with older titles, the total cost in unlikely to crack the $100 million mark.

So it's a drop in the bucket next to Viacom's filmed entertainment revenues, which topped $4.8 billion last year. The rounding error is even smaller next to Disney's $5.8 billion in studio sales. The big takeaway here is that Disney is very interested in taking full control of its superhero assets. I would not be surprised to see the Mouse reaching out to Sony and Fox to regain the last of its prodigal superhuman sons and daughters.

Read More.... http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/07/03/disney-wants-its-heroes-back-from-viacom.aspx

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