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Stan Lee Media, Inc. wants the profits from the $5.5 billion it says the Walt Disney Company has made from superhero movies and merchandise based on characters created by Stan Lee. Those characters include Iron Man, Spider-Man, most of The Avengers, The X-Men and more. “Defendant The Walt Disney Company has represented to the public that it, in fact, owns the copyright to these characters as well as to hundreds of other characters created by Stan Lee. Those representations made to the public by The Walt Disney Company are false,” says the company’s copyright infringement complaint filed today (read it here) in a Colorado court. SLMI, which Lee himself has nothing to do with nowadays, is seeking “the maximum statutory damages allowable” plus full control over Iron Man, Spider-Man and other characters. A failed party to past litigation with Lee himself and Marvel, SLMI also is seeking a jury trial in this case.
In its suit, SLMI says that Lee signed over the rights to comic book characters that he created or would create to its corporate predecessor in October 1998. The comic writer and publisher was paid for the rights in shares in Stan Lee Media, Inc. The shares later proved worthless when the dot-com bubble burst at the end of the 1990s, leaving the company to unsuccessfully seek bankruptcy protection in 2001. In its complaint today, SLMI says an amended version of that October 1998 agreement was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in March 2000, clearly indicating its rights. “Oddly, in November, 1998, Stan Lee signed a written agreement with Marvel Enterprises, Inc. in which he purportedly assigned to Marvel the rights to the Characters. However, Lee no longer owned those rights since they had been assigned to SLEI previously. Accordingly, the Marvel agreement actually assigned nothing,” the suit notes. Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion in August 2009 with the deal confirmed at the end of that year. Stan Lee Media Inc. is represented by John McDermott of Denver’s Brownstein Hyatt Faber Schreck and Robert Chapan and Jon-Jamison Hill of Beverly Hills’ Eisner, Kahan & Gorry.
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Stan the Man will need super duper powers to win this. He was paid by Marvel and Stan cheated his old comic book co-creators guys like Steve Ditko who co-created Spider-Man and Jack Kirby who co-created Iron Man. Stan also has several new projects stuck in development at Disney they made a big deal with him several years ago and nothing came of it. Disney hasn’t made anywhere close to $5.5 billion not even Marvel has made that much and that’s if you include every movie they have licensed or produced on their own.
Stan Lee has NOTHING to do with Stan Lee Media, and hasn’t since it filed for bankruptcy many, many moons ago.
Thus the whole “Stan Lee’s FORMER company” in the title of the article.
“…Stan cheated his old comic book co-creators…”
Stan hasn’t cheated anybody. The artists all got paid, they all cashed their checks and fed their families. It was work for hire, they were commercial artists, that was the world everybody lived in. Get over it.
It’s hardly that simple. Jack Kirby essentially WAS the writer of most of what he and Stan supposedly “co-created.” Anyone who’s ever seen a page of Kirby art knows this from seeing the extensive story directions and even dialogue that Jack wrote in the margins of every page. The reason the “Marvel style” was created (thin outline, FINISHED story art, dialogue last) was so Stan could “script” over Jack’s FINISHED STORY. And Jack NEVER SIGNED any work-for-hire contract. The sad, simple truth is that Jack Kirby was almost solely responsible for 80% of Marvel’s classic characters. Anyone who believes Stan Lee (who has never created ANYTHING ELSE of substance or quality) somehow created those characters has been fooled.
OMG! There is someone else out there that knows the truth! I think the only ones that should have any lawsuit over anything are the family of Kirby, Ditko, Everett and a few others. Heck even Len Wein and Herb Trimpe, for that matter, should have some sort of rights to Wolverine. But Stan is the only one out there saying he created them. So everyone believes him. Stan “Make the challengers of the unknown. But with super powers” and Jack thought about that and there were 4 in that group. And when he was sure that he wanted 4 in this group too, he circled that 4 (and that’s probably when the idea hit him). And probably a couple days later he handed in the whole story…but yeah. Stan Lee created them :/
You dont know what the hell you’re talking about and neither does the complete fool “LUSK” that you agree with.
The families of Ditko, Kirby, can go work for a living but they don’t have a chance of getting free money.
And Wolverine was designed by John Romita not Trimpe and even if you read otherwise thats the way it is.
Trimpe no more designed Wolverine than Liefeld created Deadpool, as if claiming to create Deadpool is something to brag about.
You’re quoting a bunch of crap stories from various articles of urban legends.
Kirby also lied about the scope of his involvement.
Stan Lee was the true mastermind behind those titles.
And whining about Kirby doesnt do him any good now. Why should his descendants be awarded Marvel Characters? What work have they done on those characters?
It makes you feel like you know something to write you’re stupid garbage, but you’re just another stupid and ill informed fanboy who needs to shut his mouth!
To answer your question, the Kirby heirs have done the same thing with the characters that the Disney stockholders have done: nothing. Yet, Disney gets the characters, while the children of the man who cocreated them get nothing, and see their dad’s name slagged by idiots.
Just stop with the “Kirby, Ditko, et al were cheated” nonsense. If they felt they were being criminally cheated…and these were grown men, most of whom had been working in the industry for DECADES by that point…they would have stopped doing what they were doing.
They did not. Whether or not they PERSONALLY felt cheated, the simple fact is, they did not care enough to do something about it at the time.
You pays your money, you takes your chances. The idea that they are owed something long after the fact, because the characters became immensely popular, is poor form.
Think about it for a minute…think…Walt Disney maintained TIGHT control over his creations his entire life. Disney was creating his characters before comic books as we know them even existed. Did Disney create them all by himself? In some cases, yes, but he obviously didn’t come up with every idea to everything the Disney Company ever produced. Walt Disney knew what he was doing. The people creating for him knew what they were getting into.
Bob Kane knew what HE was getting into, for that matter…
So why couldn’t Jack, Steve, Joe, Jerry, etc…?
Well, firstly, your statement about Bob Kane is wrong. He got some sort of ownership interest in Batman because he was considered a minor at the time he signed over the rights to Batman to DC, and his father used that fact to get something out of DC. What other facts in your commentary here have you gotten wrong?
Someone has the facts right for once! I wish Hollywood would give us the Jack Kirby story! Stan wrote the books as “co=creator”. Sure, after Jack Kirby had the concept written in the panel gutters and drawn out for him. Kirby did 90 per cent of the work! The universe,atmosphere,costumes and faces were created by Jack Kirby!
Agree that Stan Lee hasn’t been entirely honest as to what the “artists” did in the way of creating, writing,designing, and suggesting dialogue on those pages while Stan got to write the credit. Having said that, Stan Lee Media is just trying to shakedown Disney for some money. I’ve got news for them: Disney doesn’t give up a damn thing it doesn’t have to.
The SLMI case is of the creation of the characters. Those characters were created by Stan Lee. this case is not who contributed to the comic books by making drawings and creating story lines. It is about who created the characters. Stan Lee created the characters at issue in the New York, California and now Colorado civil actions. Stan lee transferred his property rights to what is now known as Stan Lee Media. A few weeks after the transfer to SLM, Stan transferred the same rights to Marvel. The problem here is that Stan did not own the IP rights and in fact had nothing to transfer to Marvel. Stan Lee then puts SLM into bankruptcy in Colorado and blocks attempts by the corporation to emerge. He also fraudulently transfers the IP, acknowledged by the bankruptcy court to be the property of SLM WITHOUT OBJECTION FROM STAN LEE, to POW!, directly violating the court’s order. The Colorado case against Marvel is simply saying that Stan Lee’s transfer of IP assets to marvel was void, therefore Marvels sale of the assets to Disney are also void. For those of you who point to the prior cases being dismissed, courts will look for a reason to dismiss a case, but that is what a Court of Appeals is for, to overturn unjust results. You have heard of case law??? You might also want to look at the main basis for dismissal in New York, the stockholders lacked standing and the statute of limitations ran. Judge Wilson merely parroted res juticata based on the New York case, but remember SLM was in bankruptcy and lacked the capacity to act on its own behalf. This has changed now. Stan Lee, Marvel and now Disney do not want this matter to be heard in court on the merits because they will lose. Nuf said?
Obviously, you stand to gain from the lawsuit hence your championing of a pretty shady entity that has actually never done or created anything. SLMI will lose this lawsuit like it has all the rest and we won’t hear from them again until they decide to sue Robert Downey Jr.
Hey shady, good reply, replete with facts and law. Get a life and research the facts of the case and the controlling law. Justice Man got it right, why don’t you try.
Justice Man, you do know this case well, except that Stan Lee controlls POW. It is one of his companies. Stan lee was not a bystander, he was a direct actor in this illegal transfer of SLMI assets.
Anyone who wants to know, check the copyright office and see who has filed copyrights on the subject characters. You will find that ONLY SLMI has filed. The copyright ownership was even relected in the documents filed under the relvant corporate laws of colorado.
Hey Good Reply. You are correct. It would take me days to put everythin in one of these posts. Athings being said, Stan lee is a POS.
SLMI has lost every suit they have filed – the judges just throw them out. Read Judge Crotty’s decision in NY from last year, or Judge Wilson out here in Cali this years. They don’t just through them out of court – they consider it a insult to the court that these jokers are wasting their time. Expect this to get tossed like day old fish.
Just another desperate shakedown by 3 time loser Peter Paul. This one won’t work either.
Stand deserves to have his characters back they are his creations and no one else has the right to take them from him as Co-creator of the Marvel Universe and the only one who didn’t sell out to those greedy basterds the Marvel comics belong to Stan Lee and his fans not Disney and their kinder garden audience
Steve Ditko must be laughing his ass off.
I predict minimum ten years on this court case. Look at the Winne The Pooh lawsuit. Disney is ferocious in litigation. By the way, Stan, are you looking out for your old partner Jack Kirby in this?
Again, Stan Lee Media is NOT Stan Lee the individual. The company went bankrupt back in 2000, and Peter F. Paul, who I should add is currently imprisoned for fraud, corporate sabotage, and other charges (a lot stemming from stealing monies from SLM and fleeing the country), is the one leading these frivolous charges against Disney.
They are already half-way there. They first made this legal claim in 2007. Even Stan Lee himself sued Stan Lee Media for trademark infringement at one point.
It is important to note that Stan has NOTHING to do with Stan Lee Media. That company is run by the charlatan that screwed Stan as well as everyone else, and runs solely on ridiculous lawsuits. Those of you lambasting Stan need to know that he isn’t involved with this BS.
They must either truly believe they are right and have the documentation to prove it, or they are really, really stupid. Suing The Walt Disney Corp. is going to cost truckloads of money and take up years and years of their lives. Disney is ferocious in court. For their sakes I hope they are right.
It won’t happen, but I’d like to see the suit drag on for an eternity, with Stan Lee Media and Disney wasting tons of money fighting it. A lose/lose situation for two worthless corporations.
Profits? What profits? said the studio to the writer/content creator.
Except that none of the money won in this lawsuit would go to the content creator. It would actually go to a bogus company that is trying to cash in on the name of that content creator. Stan himself seems to have made his peace with not getting a cent from these movies and seems grateful for the cameos he gets or that these films are even made.
This is like the fourth one of these lawsuits by SLMI, and all of them are always thrown out of court by the judge. Just give up already, they didn’t get the $5 billion back in 2007, and they’re not gonna get it now.
Why would Stan Lee (the man, not the company) assign the rights to his characters to Marvel in November 1998 if they were owned by Stan Lee Media previously? Curious.
They were always owned by Marvel. The legal language assigning all rights is just inserted into any agreements to ensure that Marvel has a sound defense if they need to defend their copyrights.
I’m pretty sure the agreement Stan Lee signed with SLM stated something like, I assign any and all rights I have or may have in the Marvel characters to SLM. Only Stan knew, legally, that he had no rights, therefore didn’t see any harm in later signing anything that gave Marvel the same rights. Stan Lee knew he didn’t have any rights, period, so it didn’t matter.
Please let there be some way that this turns out poorly for Ike
Does Stan lee still have an ownership interest in this slei? Sounds like he got ownership in exchange for the rights. Bankruptcy does remove someone from ownership.
It is also weird this went under during the dotcom boom. I realize the crash had a wide impact but blaming that for the failure of slei seems far fetched.
Without any other information I am going to guess slei was unable to fulfill their consideration in this deal and thus why they sold them again. I will be curious to hear more details.
Also what has slei been doing in the past 14 years in regards to these properties?
Does anyone know what slei was doing as a business in 1998? We’re they just a licensing company? Seems like it would be really hard to go bankrupt in such a business with such a portfolio unless it was completely mismanaged. I realize these properties have exploded but they should not have had much overhead in 1998.
My guess is a desperate plea by someone who found a lawyer for cheap or contingency just hoping for a low six figure settlement.
Pathetic. Stan Lee created all of his Marvel characters while under the direct employment of Marvel Comics. He has never owned the copyright to them, so he could not assign the copyright over to another company. While it is true that Marvel did enter into a pre-emptive agreement with Stan when he left the company, it was done so mainly out of respect for his contributions and to prevent the bad publicity that might come of a case should Stan ever try to take Marvel to court. But copyright law is VERY clear in this matter: if you are directed to produce something under the direct employment of a company, you do not own the patent or copyright of the creation and never will. (I should also point out that while Stan Lee did sue Marvel Comics a few years back, it was for not honoring the profit participation of their agreement with regards to the Spider-Man films.)
I think it needs to be made clear in no uncertain terms that this company has no present association with Stan Lee himself. This company knows that they have no chance of wrangling the copyrights away from Marvel/Disney, and it is just an attempt at civil extortion.
You are misinformed. Marvel went bankrupt and repudiated their contract with Stan Lee.
That is when Stan Lee started what is now known as Stan Lee Media where Stan Lee transferred all of his creation, in the past, present and the future to SLM.
The Stan Lee-SLM agreement was filed in the US Copyright office. Check it out. Curiously, Marvel never filed anything concerning the IP they claim they own(ed). Nor did Marvel say anything in the prospectus to it shareholders.
Jamesb3, you illustrate you lack of understanding when you say “civil extortion.” Extortion is a criminal act, though a victim may have civil remedies they usually do not seek them becasue that would reveal the basis for the extortion. Here, SLM wants the matter heard in court on the merits. Again, why do Stan Lee, Marvel and now Disney not want to have this matter heard?
Dude, stop it. You’re obviously associated with this case. Why would you go on an anonymous comments section of an industry blog to prove you’re right? You guys are gross.
Hey shady, you should run for polictical office. Justice Man gets the facts correct again and all you can do is slander him? Get a life pal.
These guys also sued over the Conan rights last year and had that thrown out. I’m sure Disney’s real scared.
The article is confusing especially with the photo of Stan. I now understand it’s his namesake company that he is no longer associated with. They should sue Marvel or did they already try that now they are going after Disney for the big money but I don’t see how they can win this.
Can Stan Lee sue to make Stan Lee Media change their name?
Stan Lee Media is an awful company that has tried to sue itself back into profitability for years now. Just ridiculous, disgusting, and yet another suit that’ll go nowhere. I think it’s time to start penalizing for frivolous or faulty suits.
If I was Stan, I’d sue to have his name taken off of the enterprise, even if he hasn’t had anything to do with them for nearly 15 years.
I’m surprised that the courts are allowing these clowns to file suit again. How many times do they have to lose the same suit before they give up?
Marvel Comics, originally owned by Martin Goodman, was sold to Perfect Film in 1968. Perfect Film bought the rights to all the Marvel characters back then, and ownership of those characters has moved to the various companies that have owned Marvel since then.
Stan Lee could not possibly sell the rights to those characters to SLMI because he did not own them. The characters belong to the owners of Marvel Comics.
The whole situation seems to be a little curious it will end probably with an out of court settlement
They never should’ve used his photo in the story. It’s only confusing the fanboys.
He assigned the rights
He assigned the rights because the original company he signed them to was bankrupt and no longer existed. The company that is suing now is the new entity that emerged from the bankruptcy but probably holds no real claim to the characters. Marvel would have verified they were the 100% owner in their contract with Lee.
what a bunch of fraudsters and losers! the lawsuit will be thrown out of court!
Just guessing, but I’m assuming a lawyer or two over at Disney double checked to make sure Stan Lee actually owned what assigned to Disney for billions of dollars.
I took the time to read the lawsuit and it’s fascinating. It’s also confusing but fascinating. If this goes to trial SLMI could win they might be able to convince a jury that regardless of all their past problems they are entitled to substantial money from Marvel and/or Disney. They might also be able to sue FOX and Sony and Paramount to try and get money for X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider Man and Iron Man. The Avengers money is what they really want because it uses so many characters. If the judge in Colorado allows this to go forward expect a very large settlement to avoid a jury trial. The lawyer who filed this knows what he’s doing it’s expertly worded and very convincing.
Stan Lee did not own those rights in 1998 or before. All the characters were copyrighted by Marvel before they were published.
Stan had no rights to sign over to anyone.
If he signed something in 98 it was likely a statement that acknowledged he did not claim he owned those characters.
drkbg, read the earlier post about the bankruptcy of Marvel. Marvel repudiated their contract with Stan Lee, therefore, any purported ownership rights conveyed to Marvel under that contract become void and ownership reverted back to Stan Lee, who then conveys them to HIS OWN COMPANY, SLMI.
Stan Lee is dirty here. Because a Court dismisses a case on procedural grounds does not change the fact that Stan Lee did wrong to SLMI and its stockholders.
And don’t try pointing to Peter Paul. The government, in its case agaisnt him, stated, for the record, that Peter Pauls actions did not cause any measurable harm to SLMI stock value.
Get the facts; get the truth; it will set you free…