Spider-Man bosses sued
The family of late comic book artist Jack Kirby are seeking film rights to the characters that he helped create for Marvel, including Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and X-Men.
The lawsuit reads, "With respect to co-owned Kirby works, as of the respective termination dates, defendants will jointly own the copyrights to such works for their renewal terms: both plaintiffs and defendants will have the non-exclusive right to exploit such jointly owned copyrights."
Marvel however claim that Kirby's involvement were "works made for hire".
If successful, Kirby's family would gain sole rights to characters like Iron Man, Hulk and Captain America – who are part of Marvel's standalone film production unit. However, Spiderman and Fantastic Four are owned by Sony and Fox respectively, and Kirby's heirs would be allowed to make competing versions instead.
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