Posted on March 06, 2025 by Neil Cole
Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Comics have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the studio's copyrights to Superman in foreign territories, arguing that the issue has already been exhaustively litigated. The motion, filed on March 5, 2025, comes in response to a legal challenge brought by Mark Peary, the nephew of the late Superman co-creator Joe Shuster.
Peary's lawsuit, initially filed in January 2025, seeks to invalidate Warner Bros.' copyrights in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Ireland, among other foreign markets. If successful, the lawsuit could disrupt the highly anticipated release of "Superman", starring David Corenswet and directed by James Gunn, which is scheduled for July, 2025.
In the motion, Warner Bros. Discovery asserts that Peary's claims have already been rejected multiple times by courts in the United States. Specifically, the studio pointed to prior rulings in which it was determined that Shuster's mother, Jean Peavy, signed away all rights to the Superman character after Shuster's death in 1992. The company argues that these rulings are binding and should prevent any further litigation on the matter, including in foreign jurisdictions.
The case revolves around the application of copyright law in territories outside the United States. Marc Toberoff, attorney for the Shuster estate, argues that copyright assignments in certain foreign countries automatically terminate 25 years after an author's death, which, in his view, would invalidate Warner Bros.' rights in those territories. Toberoff filed the lawsuit in federal court in New York, asserting that the U.S. has jurisdiction over the matter due to its participation in the Berne Convention.
Warner Bros. Discovery, through attorney Petrocelli, counters that the Berne Convention is not enforceable in U.S. courts and urges that the case be dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction. The studio also highlighted that the Shuster estate's claims have already been dismissed by a federal judge in Los Angeles, with those rulings subsequently upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2013.
Warner Bros. also referenced the long history of legal disputes surrounding Superman, noting that since the 1938 agreement in which Joe Shuster and co-creator Jerry Siegel sold the rights to Superman for $130, the creators' heirs have been compensated with millions of dollars in royalties and other payments, adjusted for inflation. Following Shuster's death in 1992, his sister, the sole heir, entered into an agreement with DC Comics to settle all claims related to Shuster's copyrights. The agreement, which raised her survivor payments from $5,000 to $25,000 annually, was deemed to "fully settle all claims" regarding Superman. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in 2013 that this agreement precluded any subsequent attempt to cancel the copyright.
Toberoff, however, maintains that the 9th Circuit's ruling pertains only to U.S. copyright law and does not affect Peary's claims regarding foreign rights. The lawsuit seeks to invoke the "Dickens Provision" of U.K. copyright law, which also applies in several other countries, including Canada, Australia, Ireland, Israel, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, and South Africa. In its response, Warner Bros. Discovery emphasized that the 1992 agreement covered "all rights," including foreign copyrights, and that there are no carve-outs for the territories Peary is now challenging.
The motion to dismiss was filed nearly three weeks ahead of the required response deadline of March 24, 2025. Should the judge not dismiss the case, Warner Bros. has requested that it be transferred to the Los Angeles court, which previously handled similar matters.
The Superman character is set to enter the public domain in 2034, but for now, Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Comics remain committed to defending their rights in all territories and ensuring the continued success of the Superman franchise.
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English (US) · 