The first movie in the Gods and Monsters arc from DC Studios’, Superman, is escaping the clutches of a bothersome lawsuit today after Warner Bros Discovery and DC Comics won a legal dispute against the estate of one of Big Blue’s creators. According to reports, WB achieved victory, citing a lack of jurisdictional reach after getting challenged by Mark Warren Peary, executor to the estate of Joseph Schuster, regarding the release of James Gunn’s Superman.
Marc Toberoff brought the action to WB, saying the legendary studio was responsible for “damages and injunctive relief for Defendants’ ongoing infringement in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia,” including multinational ownership rights. Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman did not come to play, saying the Schuster estate’s “infringement claims are brought explicitly under the laws of foreign countries, not the laws of the United States.” The judgment arrived through a thorough 13-page order on April 24.
“The Court concludes that it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over this case; the case therefore must be and is dismissed,” Judge Furman adds. “Accordingly, the Court need not and does not address Defendants’ alternative argument that the case should be transferred to another federal district. Additionally, given the Court’s lack of jurisdiction, Peary’s motion for a preliminary injunction must be and is denied as moot.”
After hearing the judgment, WB representatives Daniel Petrocelli and O’Melveny & Myers said, “We are pleased with the court’s decision to dismiss this baseless lawsuit. As we have consistently maintained, DC controls all rights to Superman.“
Some of you are probably saying, “How could this happen?” The case is complicated but boils down to a foreign copyright issue related to the original Superman character and his time-honored origin, co-authored by Jerome Siegel and Schuster. The suit highlights that the duo sold worldwide rights to DC’s predecessor in 1938 “for a mere $130 ($65 each), the copyright laws of countries with the British legal tradition—including Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia—contain provisions automatically terminating such assignments 25 years after an author’s death, vesting in the Shuster Estate the co-author’s undivided copyright interest in such countries.”
To complicate matters, “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.”
While Toberoff could file another suit in a state court, yesterday’s ruling could deter that action. With the motion passed down, people worldwide can experience Superman on July 11, 2025. Huzzah!
