A New Superman Legal Battle
Joe Shuster's Nephew Enters The Fight
A new battle has started for Superman. Unlike the previous, recent battles, fought by the heirs of Jerry Siegel, this one, brought by Warren Peary, the nephew of Joe Shuster, isn't really about the rights to the character, it's solely about money. That's all.
Led by Marc Toberoff, who has been fighting for the Superman rights for decades now (and who, if he’d won them from DC Comics for the families, would have owned a controlling percentage in the character), this suit is claiming that, under the copyright reversion laws of British countries - such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and others - the agreement signed by Shuster’s brother, Frank and his sister, jean, automatically terminated twenty five years after they were signed. The agreement was signed in 1992, when Joe Shuster died, meaning that agreement terminated in 2017. Of course, it’s taken eight years and the promise of a new, stand alone, Superman movie for action to be filed.
As such, Toberoff is asking that the movie not be released in those territories until this is all settled. He is also asking for the Shuster rights to Superman in the countries mentioned. In short, he won't get either, and the rights would be useless if he did.
When Joe Shuster died, DC Comics tied up his rights, which were automatically transferred to his sister, Jean and his brother, Frank. In return for signing over these rights, Warner Brothers/DC Comics also paid off all Joe Shuster’s debts and handed thousands of dollars to Frank Shuster and Jean Peavy over their rest of their lifetimes. They both received $25,000 per year, plus bonuses often in the tens of thousands. Toberoff attempted to gain a controlling interest in the Shuster rights (as he did the Seigel rights), only for the courts to deny him, by ratifying the 1 August 1992 agreement.
The Shuster family didn’t make anywhere near as much as the Siegel family - and they still don’t - but that’s how it ended up. Then again, Joe Shuster never made as much as Jerry Siegel did, even when they were supposed to be paid the same amounts from DC Comics.
Going on previous cases that have involved Superman and the people involved, there'll probably be a settlement offered, it will be refused and, long story short, Warners/DC Comics will end up paying a sizable amount to Joe Shuster's heir, a fair percentage of which will end up in the lawyers pocket.
There's no new ground being broken here, just another angle for people to make money off Superman. Quite interesting that Marc Toberoff, who argued long and hard that the true creator of Superman and the sole creator of Superboy was Jerry Siegel at the expense of Joe Shuster (mainly because he couldn’t get the Shuster rights), is now fighting for the Shuster family. There’s a lot of background to all of this, as you’d expect, but it’s far too long and convoluted for a single post. But, if you check my archives, you’ll find dozens of articles about these cases, and why things keep playing out.
When it all comes down to it, it’s all about money. Nothing more, nothing less.
I’ll update as things happen, but this one can easily be filed under, nothing to see here, move along.
