The heirs to comic-book artist Jack Kirby — who has co-creation credits for the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America and even Spider-Man — have sent copyright-termination notices to companies that have been making comic books, movies, toys and other works based on the characters, including Marvel, Disney, Sony Pictures, Universal, 20th Century Fox and Paramount.
According to the New York Times’ Media Decoder blog, the notices express an intent to own the copyrights as early as 2014.
While other parties involved had no immediate comment, the Walt Disney Co., which last month announced it was buying Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, downplayed the move in its statement:
“The notices involved are an attempt to terminate rights seven to 10 years from now, and involve claims that were fully considered in the acquisition.”
Kirby, who died in 1994, worked with writer-editor Stan Lee to create many of the most famous characters in comics. The properties are in demand in Hollywood, which has increasingly turned to the pages of comic books for blockbuster inspiration.
Read the full article at Media Decoder.
Via io9
