In a new move, the estate of Superman co-creator Joe Shuster sued DC Comics and Warner Bros. on Friday.
The suit filed in the Southern District of New York is the latest chapter of the long running battle of Superman’s copyright that was last addressed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal in 2013.
The court had then ruled in favor of the Warner Bros. concluding that Shuster’s sister had signed away his right after his death in 1992.
This time round, the estate’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, asserts claims under copyright laws in the U.K., Canada, Ireland and Australia, as per reports by Variety.
The suit claims that under the copyright laws of the UK and others named, the rights to Superman is automatically reverted to the estates 25 years after the creators’ deaths.
He reasons that the previous litigation was limited to rights under the U.S. Copyright Act and does not affect the estate’s overseas copyrights.
Among other things, the suit pursues an order blocking Warner Bros. from distributing Superman in the U.K. and other disputed territories without a license from the estate first.
“We live in a global economy; studios like DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. cannot expect foreign countries to respect and enforce U.S. copyright law amidst rampant piracy, if we don’t respect and enforce their copyright laws,” Toberoff said in a press release.
The representatives of The Warner Bros., who own DC, have put out a counter statement, saying, “We fundamentally disagree with the merits of the lawsuit, and will vigorously defend our rights,”
The suit comes months before the release of Warner Bros. Superman: Legacy, set to launch on July 11, 2025.
