The Joseph Shuster estate has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery and DC over the international copyrights of Superman.
According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, a federal suit was filed Friday in the Southern District of New York. The suit alleges that DC Comics' international rights to the Superman character expired in countries such as the Australia, Canada, and the U.K. in 2017 and 2021.
The suit specifically calls attention to the U.K. copyright law's "Dickens provision" that sees the rights of a work revert back to the author's estate 25 years after their death. Joe Shuster passed away in 1992. The suit claims that DC has been operating without a proper license to Superman in the U.K., specifically since 2017.
In the case of Canada, the copyright law says that the copyright of a joint work reverts back to the estates 25 years after the passing of both authors. Jerry Siegel passed away in 1996, making 2021 the year for the copyright violation in that country.
Mark Warren Peary, executor of the Shuster estate, said of the lawsuit, "These foreign copyright laws were specifically designed to protect creators like my Uncle Joe. That is what we’re fighting for here."
With the new Superman film due to be released on July 11, Warner Bros. Discovery is going to need to address this suit as soon as possible to make sure that the film can release globally. Marc Toberoff, the lawyer representing the Shuster estate, said that it is not their desire to keep Superman from fans, but they must "seek just compensation for Joe Shuster’s fundamental contributions as the co-creator of the character."
Toberoff has had an extensive career in copyright litigation, most famously involving the rights of the original screenwriters of Friday the 13th and Predator.
Superman is due to hit theaters on July 11, 2025.
