By William Kronblat

Warner Bros. is set to release the highly anticipated Superman movie starring David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult in July. Fans are eager to see James Gunn’s interpretation of the iconic character and superhero universe. In 2022, Gunn was appointed co-chair and co-CEO of Warner Bros. new superhero movie studio, DC studios. DC studios replaced DC films after years of executive turmoil. The upcoming Superman film is meant to jumpstart the rebooted DC Comics movie universe under Gunn’s stewardship. 

However, not everyone shares the fans’ enthusiasm. In January of 2025, a copyright lawsuit aimed to block the release of the film in several countries. The lawsuit was filed in United States District Court in the Southern District of New York, as copyright is governed by federal law. But the lawsuit’s intended impact is broader: it seeks to cancel Warner Bros. “Superman” copyrights in 10 countries including Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom by asking the court to apply the law of those nations. 

The Lawsuit:

The lawsuit was brought by Mark Warren Peary, the nephew of the late Superman co-creator Joe Schuster and executor of Schuster’s estate. Peary argued that under the copyright laws of those 10 countries, Warner Bros. had lost its right to the Superman copyright. Peary sought compensation from all the works connected to the alleged infringement, including older Warner Bros. titles like Zack Synder’s Justice League, Black Adam, and Shazam. Peary contended that the court had to apply the laws of the countries where the alleged infringement occurred, and that his claims could proceed under the Berne Convention (an international treaty that sets out minimum standards for copyright protection that the U.S. has adopted in part).

Peary’s suit was dismissed this month by U.S. District Court Judge Jesse Furman. Judge Furman held that the court did not have jurisdiction over the dispute and no authority to address the estate’s copyright interest under foreign laws. Peary sought to establish jurisdiction by having the court employ diversity jurisdiction or federal-question jurisdiction, but Judge Furman held that neither applied. 

Diversity jurisdiction was not present because there were parties from California on both sides of the lawsuit. Diversity jurisdiction cannot occur when even one plaintiff is a citizen of the same state that a defendant is a citizen of. Moreover, federal-question jurisdiction was not present because Peary’s complaint did not raise a federal issue, and his “infringement claims [were] brought explicitly under the laws of foreign countries.” Additionally, given the lack of jurisdiction, Furman did not address the merits of Peary’s claims.

Peary and his attorney, powerhouse copyright lawyer Marc Toberoff, did not publicly respond to comment on Judge Furman’s decision, but they promptly refiled the lawsuit in New York state court. Spokesmen for  Warner Bros. and DC Comics expressed their satisfaction with the decision and reiterated that “DC controls all rights to Superman.”

How did DC acquire ownership of the Superman copyright?

In 1938, Superman creators Jerome Siegel and Joe Schuster sold their rights to the character and story to DC Comics for only $130 ($2,948.50 in today’s market). Superman then appeared under the DC Comics banner in Action Comics No. 1. Since then, the Superman copyright has been a hot button topic for litigation. For instance, in 1947 Siegel and Schuster sued DC to invalidate their ownership rights of Superman. The case ultimately settled with Siegel and Schuster receiving $94,000, which equates to about $1,300,053.72 in today’s economy.

DC still retains control of the Superman copyright despite provisions of U.S copyright law allowing original copyright holders to reclaim domestic rights over their copyright after a certain period of time. This is because Mark Peary’s siblings reached a deal with DC in 1992 that terminated the right in exchange for $25,000 per year.

Warner Bros. owns DC, and as a result has access to the DC intellectual property portfolio which includes copyrights such as Superman. 

What is the  future of the Superman copyright?

Despite Peary’s efforts to refile the suit in state court, it is doubtful that any outcome will impede Warner Bros. and DC’s ability to release Superman this summer. The Superman copyright has been litigated time and time again, but the courts have affirmed Warner Bros. ownership repeatedly. Warner Bros. contractually secured its ability to control the Superman copyright with Schuster’s estate back in 1992. Even with the help of a reputable copyright lawyer, Mark Peary is facing an uphill (maybe even impossible) battle if he wants to get Warner Bros. ownership revoked, in the U.S. or any other country. 

It is noteworthy that the Superman copyright expires in 2034. When the copyright expires it will go into the public domain and everyone will have the ability to use the Superman copyright including Mark Peary. It is also noteworthy that DC has been prepping for the moment their copyrights enter public domain. DC has implemented various strategies to protect their copyrights even when they enter the public domain including creating new versions of the character and maintaining high levels of quality control. Given the implementation of these strategies, and that 2034 is still 9 years away, there is still plenty of time for more litigation of the Superman copyright. 

#WJLTA #Superman #copyright #litigation