Legal Battle threatens Superman: Warner and DC sued over copyright

Dark clouds are gathering along the horizon, now threatening to completely derail James Gunn's planned Super-celebrations. One of Superman's co-creators—or rather, his estate—has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. and DC Comics regarding the rights to the character. This legal dispute now risks delaying or even blocking the distribution of the new film in countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia.

Superman may have been sold to DC (its predecessor) many decades ago, but in countries with ties to the UK, copyright expires 25 years after the death of the author or creator. Shuster passed away in 1992, meaning the rights reverted to his estate in 2017.

"Shuster died in 1992 and Siegel in 1996. By operation of law, Shuster's foreign copyrights automatically reverted to his estate in 2017 in most of these territories (and in 2021 in Canada). Yet Defendants continue to exploit Superman across these jurisdictions without the Shuster Estate's authorization—including in motion pictures, television series, and merchandise—in direct contravention of these countries' copyright laws, which require the consent of all joint copyright owners to do so."

A Warner Bros. spokesperson issued the following statement in response to the lawsuit:

"We fundamentally disagree with the merits of the lawsuit, and will vigorously defend our rights."

In other words, the situation is far from straightforward. It remains to be seen what will happen—whether the estates can be bought out or if the film's distribution in certain parts of the world will actually be blocked. Unfortunate news for Gunn and his grand plans.