Another Court Decision Regarding Superman And The Siegel Family

CBR is reporting that there’s been another ruling in the ongoing court battle between DC Comics and the heirs of Jerry Siegel. Fortunately, they were also kind enough to have their writer Brian Cronin, also a lawyer, explain exactly what it all means.

This time, the Siegels were suing for money they felt were owed them from Smallville and Superman Returns. They alleged that since DC and Warner Bros. Entertainment share a parent company, Time Warner Inc., they had obviously made a “sweetheart deal” and licensed Superman’s film and TV rights for less than market value. This, of course, would allow DC to give less money to the Siegels, who are entitled to half of the money brought in from licensing the character.

The United State District Judge in the case, the Honorable Stephen G. Larson, decided in favor of DC Comics, saying that while they probably got less than could have for Superman Returns, it was not unreasonably low, and since the deal for Smallville was typical, both were considered to be fair market value.

An interesting aspect of the case was the matter of reversion rights. Warner Bros. Entertainment has exclusive film right to Superman for as long as DC owns the copyright. The Siegels believe that this lack of a reversion clause has allowed Warner Bros. to take their time making another Superman movie, and if there’s no movie then Siegels make less money. Larson felt there was some merit to this, but also saw DC’s point that assuming there would have been a sequel in this time was pure speculation, and that any damages to the Siegels would also be speculation. The judge compromised and ruled that if a Superman film hadn’t begun filming by 2011, then the Siegels could sue for damages based on the reversion clause, or rather the lack of one.

So basically, the judge says the Siegels don’t deserve any more money, but they could later on. Also, hey, there’s definitely going to be a new Superman movie in the next couple of years. Because DC will be damned before they do something that will also the Siegels to get any extra money out of them.