Spider-Man: Where is Home?

Scarlett Johansson v Disney Black Widow: What is a Theatrical Release in the Age of Streaming Services?

Kimble v Marvel gets caught up in SCOTUS's web

United States Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan is a fan of comics. If you had not already read that in her bio at SCOTUS-tracking blog Supreme Court Review, you might have inferred it from the Spiderman references she included in her Kimble v. Marvel ("Kimble") decision. She even supported her final decision, declining to overturn the limits […]

Marvel’s Misadventures in the Kirby Copyright Chronicles

Marvel may have to call in The Avengers for help with this one. The comic giant filed papers on July 14th arguing to the U.S. Supreme Court that it should not review the Second Circuit appeal court's decision in Marvel Characters, Inc. v Kirby. The case concerned whether the estate of legendary comic book artist Jack Kirby […]

Copyright and the "Marvel Method" - Jack Kirby's Heirs Lose On Appeal

On August 8th 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that comic book artist Jack Kirby’s contributions to Marvel were “made for hire”, and therefore ineligible for copyright termination notices under §304 (c) of Title 17 of the United States Code.

Marvel Wins Right To Retain Copyrights Of Comic Characters

Taylor Vanderhelm is a JD candidate at the University of Alberta. Marvel Worldwide Inc. won its case to retain the copyrights to comic characters against the estate of legendary comic creator Jack Kirby. The suit was in response to Kirby’s heirs filing of 45 notices of copyright termination in order to reassert their claim to […]