If you live in Australia, Canada, Ireland, or the United Kingdom, there is a chance you may not get to see James Gunn’s Superman. The estate of Superman’s co-creator Joseph Schuster just filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery trying to block the release of the film because it believes the company doesn’t own the proper rights in those countries.
Deadline reported on the lawsuit which is a bit complicated but we’ll try and break it down. Basically, it comes down to specific copyright laws in those aforementioned countries. Superman’s creators Schuster and Jerome Siegel signed over worldwide rights to the character in 1938 for $130 and while that agreement still stands in many places, it doesn’t necessarily stand everywhere. In the United Kingdom, for example, a deal like that reverts back to the original owner 25 years after their death.
“Shuster died in 1992 and Siegel in 1996,” the lawsuit, which was filed in Federal Court in the Southern District of New York, says. “By operation of law, Shuster’s foreign copyrights automatically reverted to his estate in 2017 in most of these territories (and in 2021 in Canada). Yet Defendants continue to exploit Superman across these jurisdictions without the Shuster Estate’s authorization—including in motion pictures, television series, and merchandise—in direct contravention of these countries’ copyright laws, which require the consent of all joint copyright owners to do so.”
The lawsuit is seeking “damages and injunctive relief for Defendants’ ongoing infringement in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, as well as declaratory relief establishing the Shuster Estate’s ownership rights across relevant jurisdictions.” In a statement to Deadline, a spokesperson for Warner Bros. Discover said “We fundamentally disagree with the merits of the lawsuit, and will vigorously defend our rights.”
Clearly, we are not lawyers but we do know that legal matters of this magnitude don’t happen quickly. You have to imagine that whether or not a count sides with the estate or the studio, getting the release of Superman blocked in those countries would be difficult. It’s only a few months away. Either way, there’s no way either side going down without a fight.
James Gunn’s Superman, starring David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult, opens July 11.
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