The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a ruling yesterday finding that the estates of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster have no claim to the copyright in the Superman properties Siegel and Shuster created. The win solidifies Warner Bros.’ right to continue making films and other derivatives based on the comic book character.

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The representatives of each estate had separately served DC Comics with termination notices, which, under certain circumstances, allow the creator of a work to reclaim copyright from an assignee. DC, on behalf of itself and its parent, Warner Bros., responded by seeking declaratory judgments in federal court finding the notices of termination invalid.This latest decision comes in the case against Shuster’s estate, with DC having already prevailed in a similar action against Siegel’s. DC won the Shuster case on summary judgment at the district court level and the estate appealed. Though the three-judge panel was divided, two judges sided with DC, giving it and Warners a solid victory.The crux of the court’s reasoning was that the assignment agreements signed by Shuster’s estate representatives in 1992 were not executed before 1978, which is required for termination rights to apply. Shuster and Siegel themselves executed prior assignments in 1938, which would have qualified for termination, but the court found that the 1992 agreements superseded them. The court also went out of its way to chide the estates and their attorney, Marc Toberoff, for engaging in (and concealing) the questionable practice of transferring any interest in the reverted Superman rights to Toberoff’s company, a big no-no under U.S. copyright law.The lone dissenter on the panel, Circuit Judge Sidney Runyan Thomas, argued that the 1992 agreements did not revoke the 1938 agreements, and that therefore the estates might be entitled to reclaim the copyrights. While it’s possible Shuster’s estate could seek further judicial review, that seems unlikely.Via Deadline Hollywood

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