Comic Book Artist's Estate Sues Marvel To Terminate Lucrative Copyright Licenses

A New York federal judge has weighed in on an important case that could be worth billions of dollars and impact the future of Iron Man, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, and other iconic super-hero characters.

The case involves the ongoing attempt by the estate of comic book artist Jack Kirbyto terminate a copyright grant over his legendary work. After Kirby's children served 45 notices of copyright termination, Marvel Entertainment sued the estate in New York District Court, seeking a declaration that the creations were "works-made-for-hire" and not eligible for termination. The estate countersued, seeking its own declaration that the termination notices were served properly to Marvel.

Last month, New York federal judge Colleen McMahon rejected a bid by Marvel to throw out the Kirby estate's main counterclaim. The judge decided it wasn't a "redundant" claim, meaning she will soon have an opportunity to shake up Marvel's universe, if she so decides, with a potentially devastating future ruling.

But the judge's decision wasn't a complete loss for Marvel. Far from it.

The studio was successful in avoiding an accounting on how much money is potentially at stake. Judge McMahon agreed with Marvel's contention that it would be premature to adjudicate the issue before it's decided whether or not the Kirby material can be terminated. More.

Catfish Documentary Sparks Fair Use Battle

Ever since Catfish premiered at Sundance in January, the documentary has engendered controversy. Made for just $30,000, it grossed more than $3 million and has left audiences scrambling to figure out whether the amazing story being told is just an elaborate hoax.

We might get an answer to that question, thanks to a lawsuit filed today in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against distributors Universal and Relativity Media, as well as the directors and producers of the film. The lawsuit filed by Threshold Media seeks statutory damages and profits from the defendants and an injunction.

In one of the crucial scenes of Catfish, Angela-posing-as-Megan sends Nev a song that she claims to be hers. It wasn’t, of course. In truth, it was a YouTube version of the song All Downhill From Here by singer-songwriter Amy Kuney, who is signed to Spin Move Records, owned by Threshold Media Corp. Later in the film, during the closing credits, Kuney's entire song is again played.

At first, Spin Move seemed proud of Kuney’s quasi-involvement in the film, touting it on its website. But the record label soon removed the post.

For some time now, Threshold has been attempting to get filmmakers to pay licensing fees for the song. According to the new copyright infringement lawsuit, the producers have rejected doing so. According to Threshold’s LA lawyer, Neville Johnson, the producers claimed that since the song was part of a real-life documentary, it was a “fair use” of the copyright. More.

SAGWatch News Aggregator Cleared of Wrongdoing

The anonymously run SAGWatch website, which aggregates news about SAG, AFTRA and other Hollywood unions, has long come under fire by members of SAG’s MembershipFirst faction, the now all but defunct group associated with former guild president Alan Rosenberg. They criticize the site for its pro-merger and anti-MembershipFirst stance.

In October, as The Hollywood Reporter reported, anonymous claims surfaced that AFTRA board member David Browde runs the website and that by so doing was in violation of an agreement between SAG and AFTRA that prohibits leaders of each union from disparaging the other union. Browde told THR then that the accusation was false. AFTRA said it would investigate.

On Wednesday, AFTRA released a statement that its outside counsel had concluded an investigation and "found no evidence suggesting any infractions (of the non-disparagement agreement and the union's own confidentiality rules) took place." More.

Ex-Associate Sues Akin Gump for Biased Termination

An ex-associate in Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld's New York office has sued the law firm, claiming Akin Gump discriminated against her when it fired her for purported economic reasons in 2009.

Tameka Simmons, who said she was the only black female attorney in the New York office before being let go, accused the 800-lawyer firm of creating "pretextual" economic reasons for her firing. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District, also accuses the firm of denying Ms. Simmons mentoring, supervision and work opportunities promised when she was recruited from Debevoise & Plimpton in 2007.

Ms. Simmons, who is claiming discrimination and retaliation under federal and state law, is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. She also is seeking to force Akin Gump to reinstate her as an associate and pay her the earnings and benefits she would have received had she not been fired. More.