Superman rights owned by Warner Bros., confirms judge

The 2001 agreement between DC Comics and the estate ofSupermanco-creatorJerome Siegel has been once again put into effect by a federal judge as Warner Bros. garnered one more winin the war overSupermanrights. However, the decision by U.S. judgeOtis Wrightto enforce the agreement indicates to one more lawsuit that seems likely to come from the Siegels and their lawyer,Marc Toberoff. Hence, more litigation would pour in against the decision.

The decision follows a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal decision in January that held that Siegels made a deal 12 years ago to settle a war over rights, which stand completely opposed to the fact that Siegel estate has been trying to terminate a copyright grant to the Warner Bros.. While Judge Wright defied Toberoff saying, "Subsequent events may have affected the present enforceability of that contract, as by a material breach followed by an effective rescission of the deal,” he also added, "The Siegels’ breach and repudiation defenses do not affect the enforceability of the agreement, but rather constitute grounds for termination or a breach-of-contract action."

The judge went on to state that a proper case can only be filed by arguing in a separate breach-of-contract lawsuit that Warners failed "to provide a royalty statement to the Siegels by March 31, 2001, as agreed in the October 19, 2001 Letter, and failed to pay or offer to pay the Siegels their royalties.” Though such litigation would only create more legal complications for both the parties, it’s expected that such a lawsuit would be filed in no time. As of now Warner Bros. is completely safe to release its big-budget Superman flickMan of Steel, directed byZack Snyderand produced byChristopher Nolan.But at the end of the day the distributors could not be reached for their comments on the judicial decision.