from variety
Warner vexed by legal Man of Steel
Lawyer Toberoff dings Superman
By DIANE GARRETT
He's a superhero to rights holders -- but Kryptonite to studios.
Last week, attorney Marc Toberoff won a potentially costly "Superman"
victory against Warner Bros. for co-creator Jerome Siegel's heirs. The
federal ruling, which gives the heirs a stake in rights sold 71 years
ago, could put a serious crimp on future plans for one of the studio's
most enduring -- and lucrative -- franchises, especially if co-creator
Max Shuster's heirs follow suit in five years, when they are eligible
to do so.
As it is, the studio has at least two Superman projects in development
-- a follow-up to Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns" and "Justice
League" -- and it may end up paying tens of millions from the domestic
haul of "Superman Returns" to Siegel's heirs under the ruling, which
applies to domestic monies for Superman projects since 1999.
The case is Toberoff's latest -- and potentially most damaging --
claim against the studio. The dedicated copyright crusader has pursued
claims involving "Wild Wild West," "Dukes of Hazzard," "It's Alive,"
"Smallville" and, re****tedly, the upcoming "Get Smart."
He has gone after other studios, including Sony, but his most
high-profile cases -- and victories -- have involved Warners. The
studio paid "Moonrunners" producer Robert B. Clark a $17.5 million
settlement in a case about similarities between that 1974 movie and
the bigscreen "The Dukes of Hazzard." And a federal judge ruled
earlier in the Siegels' favor over "Smallville," although that was
challenged and the case still being resolved.
The studio declined to comment on the latest ruling in favor of their
legal nemesis, issuing only a statement noting that, "substantial
issues relating to the accounting of profits were ruled in our favor."
Among these issues: international profits, trademark-related revs and
profits stemming from Superman fare produced before 1999, when
Siegel's heirs terminated the earlier copyright arrangement under a
1976 law.
To the Siegels, Toberoff's legal maneuvers are nothing short of
heroic. The family had been destitute for years after Siegel sold
rights to his Man of Steel to Detective Comics for $130. DC Comics had
started to pony up more monies after Warners made successful movies
based on the character, but Siegel had long wished to redress the fact
he had gotten so little from his creation; he died in 1996.
Toberoff has set up a production company, Intellectual Properties
Worldwide, to develop films around these and other titles. And he has
built up a sideline business producing bigscreen adaptations of the
projects whose copyright claims he pursues. He has a producing credit
on "Fantasy Island," a Sony project for Eddie Murphy, as well as
"Sanford and Son."
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