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ARTICLE · 11 AUGUST 2011

Judge Rules That Superheroes Will Stay With Marvel

Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC
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Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC

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On July 28, 2011, Judge McMahon of the Southern District of New York granted summary judgment in favor of Marvel and against the children of famed comic book creator Jack Kirby, who passed away in 1994.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Jeremy Goldman
Jeremy Goldman
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This article first appeared in Entertainment Law Matters, a Frankfurt Kurnit legal blog.

Marvel Worldwide, Inc. v. Kirby, No. 10 Civ. 141 (CM) (KNF), 2011 WL 3207793 (S.D.N.Y. July 28, 2011).

On July 28, 2011, Judge McMahon of the Southern District of New York granted summary judgment in favor of Marvel and against the children of famed comic book creator Jack Kirby, who passed away in 1994. As reported in our earlier blog post, Marvel filed the action for declaratory judgment against the Kirby kids after they issued 45 notices to Marvel purporting to terminate, pursuant to Section 304(c) of the U.S. Copyright Act, their father's assignment of his copyrights in several prized comic books published by Marvel between 1958 and 1963, featuring the adventures of Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, Thor, The Incredible Hulk and The X-Men, among others.

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