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Warner Bros/DC Comics Sues Superman Copyright Lawyer
WB Vendetta Against Superman Copyright Lawyer Relying On Stolen Files
Letter From Lois Lane To Time Warner Boss
Ruling on behalf of Warner Bros., a federal judge on Tuesday rejected copyright lawyer Marc Toberoff’s claims that his actions as lawyer for heirs of the co-creators of Superman were protected against legal interference. In so doing the judge allowed Warner Bros.’ lawsuit against Toberoff to move forward. The judge also granted Warner Bros access to a July 2003 letter from Laura Siegel to her late brother Michael. Warner Bros. outside counsel Daniel Petrocelli is seeking to undo Toberoff’s relationship with the heirs of Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster by accusing the attorney of interfering as a competing business owner in agreements the studio and DC had made with the heirs.
Petrocelli was hired to come up with a strategy to prevent the studio from possibly losing a portion of the copyright to Superman in 2013 as a court has previously ruled. Petrocelli filed the current lawsuit last May to put Toberoff in a position where he might have to resign as the attorney for the Siegels and Shusters. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Otis Wright found that the studio’s argument “makes sense.” He ruled that because Toberoff had established business arrangements through his own company Pacific Pictures with heirs of Siegel and Shuster, he was not protected under California’s anti-SLAAP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) statute that protects rights owners against legal intimidation. Wright rejected Toberoff’s anti-SLAPP argument, ruling that he was acting in his capacity as a businessman, not a lawyer, through Pacific Pictures — specifically concerning exploitation of Joe Shuster’s creations.
At stake is whether Warner Bros. can proceed with future exploitations of the rights to Superman. Deadline reported earlier this year that in 2013, the Siegel heirs and the estate of co-creator Shuster will own a portion of the original copyright to Superman — “and neither DC Comics nor Warner Bros. will be able to exploit any new Superman works without a license from the Siegels and Shusters.” The heirs of Siegel have already been awarded half the copyright for Superman. In 2013 the heirs of co-creator Shuster get the remaining half.
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Toberoff is a loser, enough said. Go WB!
Looks like Toberoff just got SLAPP-ed!
Go home, angry rich bad lawyer.
Really wish WB could lose the Superman rights. They have done nothing to give this IP life like what MARVEL has been doing with all of their own characters. WB has been sitting on their ass with the ULTIMATE Godfather of Superhero’s property and have produced the horrible SUPERMAN RETURNS and now MAN OF STEEL which we all know here that Zack Snyder will do badly with this movie as well due to his history of misses with comic/fantasy films. Superman needs new guidance and it needs to be in hands that is passionate about the character and guide it down the right path. WB will not have the success of MARVEL (Batman franchise for the most excluded) therefor it should let go of SUPERMAN and let someone else give it life. WB is the bad guy here not the heirs to the character.
I’m not sure there is a right path for Superman. How do you bring such a one-dimensional character to life? The movies have always fallen short due to the complete lack of depth. Prediction: Snyder bellyflop.
I can say with the utmost certainty that you do not know what the actual issues of this case are. You are grossly mistaking on Snyder’s credentials as three of his movies received generally positive reviews (1) 300, ushered in a new era of visuals and high volume fighting; (2) Watchmen, but for some reason didn’t bode well for the movie goer, because IMO was the first superhero movie to have a complex story and broke away from the pg-13 stereotype; 3) Dawn of the Dead, straight up just entertaining.
The only true bomb that he has produced is Sucker Punch, which makes your statement “Snyder will do badly with this movie as well due to his history of misses with comic/fantasy films” completely and utterly baseless.
“Superman needs new guidance and it needs to be in hands that is passionate about the character and guide it down the right path.”
-You propose Marvel? The company that has already ruined a franchise in Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, the original Spiderman trilogy with that absolute trash 3rd movie etc…
“WB will not have the success of MARVEL (Batman franchise for the most excluded) therefor it should let go of SUPERMAN and let someone else give it life. WB is the bad guy here not the heirs to the character.”
-Exactly what are you talking about? If you’re talking about comics then you are wrong, if you’re talking about movies then you are still wrong. Just because Marvel has been pumping movies out doesn’t mean it’s relevant to the issue of Superman.
If Superman leaves DC then he will no longer be Superman, his history is too engrained with DC characters, Batman, Wonder Woman, Doomsday, Braniac, and the list just keeps growing.
Hey Allen Klien…Oops, I mean Marc Toberoff! GO AWAY!
Michael is actually Laura’s half-brother from her father’s first (and rather unhappy) marriage
Bad, bad guy. Just a self-serving squatter who makes promises he can’t keep.
It is just a shame that WB will not do the right thing by the estate of the creators of arguably the most iconic superhero franchise of them all. It would have cost a small fraction of what the missed opportunity that was SUPERMAN RETURNS was.
I am willing to see what Snyder does with MAN OF STEEL, but his track record up to this point is hit-and-miss.
shame that the judge is allowing warners to now go after toberoff not to mention allowing some of their evidence that was obtain illegaly . thus proving warner’s is willing to keep playing nasty to try and keep the rights to super man when odds are once shuster’s estate gets their share of the copyright. odds are they may wind up taking superman some where else. given how dc and warners have treated them by this long drawn out fight over superman.now going after the lawer who is representing them with stolen papers.
This lawsuit doesn’t change the outcome in any way in 2013.The Shusters Estate will still get the remaining half of the Superman copyright that by law is rightfully theirs as stated in the Copyright Law.There is no way in hell are they going to give their half of the copyright up to Warner Bros or Dc Comics when it’s right there for them to take it come 2013.Warner Bros can sue their lawyer all they want but the outcome remains the same,to make any more profit off of Superman in the future they’ll have to go through the two families.They’ll be lucky if the Shusters and Seigels say yes with all the bad and tainted blood between them and Dc Comics.