Superman/Superboy Lawsuit in WB Quarterly Report

SECinfo.com has published the Time Warner Inc. Q-10 quarterly report, which has a summary of the on-going lawsuit over the rights to Superman and Superboy.

On October 8, 2004, certain heirs of Jerome Siegel, one of the creators of the 'Superman' character, filed suit against the Company, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Plaintiffs' complaint seeks an accounting and demands up to one-half of the profits made on Superman since the alleged April 16, 1999 termination by plaintiffs of Siegel's grants of one-half of the rights to the Superman character to DC Comics' predecessor-in-interest. Plaintiffs have also asserted various Lanham Act and unfair competition claims, alleging 'wasting' of the Superman property by DC Comics and failure to accord credit to Siegel. The Company answered the complaint and filed counterclaims on November 11, 2004, to which plaintiffs replied on January 7, 2005. On April 30, 2007, the Company filed motions for partial summary judgment on various issues, including the unavailability of accounting for pre-termination and foreign works. On March 26, 2008, the court entered an order of summary judgment finding, among other things, that plaintiffs' notices of termination were valid and that plaintiffs' had thereby recaptured, as of April 16, 1999, their rights to a one-half interest in the Superman story material, as first published, but that the accounting for profits would not include profits attributable to foreign exploitation, republication of pre-termination works and trademark exploitation. The remaining issues in the case are scheduled for trial starting in November 2008. The Company intends to defend against this lawsuit vigorously.

On October 22, 2004, the same Siegel heirs filed a second lawsuit against the Company, DC Comics, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., Warner Communications Inc. and Warner Bros. Television Production Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Plaintiffs claim that Jerome Siegel was the sole creator of the character Superboy and, as such, DC Comics has had no right to create new Superboy works since the alleged October 17, 2004 termination by plaintiffs of Siegel's grants of rights to the Superboy character to DC Comics' predecessor-in-interest. This lawsuit seeks a declaration regarding the validity of the alleged termination and an injunction against future use of the Superboy character. Plaintiffs have also asserted Lanham Act and unfair competition claims alleging false statements by DC Comics regarding the creation of the Superboy character. The Company answered the complaint and filed counterclaims on December 21, 2004, to which plaintiffs replied on January 7, 2005. The case was consolidated for discovery purposes with the 'Superman' action described immediately above. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment or partial summary judgment on February 15, 2006. In its ruling dated March 23, 2006, the court denied the Company's motion for summary judgment, granted plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment on termination and held that further proceedings are necessary to determine whether the Company's Smallville television series may infringe on plaintiffs' rights to the Superboy character. On January 12, 2007, the Company filed a motion for reconsideration of the court's decision granting plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment on termination. On April 30, 2007, the Company filed a motion for summary judgment on non-infringement of Smallville. On July 27, 2007, the court granted the Company's motion for reconsideration, reversing the bulk of the March 23, 2006 ruling, and requested additional briefing on certain issues. On March 31, 2008, the court, among other things, denied the Company's summary judgment motion as moot in view of the court's July 27, 2007 reconsideration ruling. To the extent any issues remain, the Company intends to defend against this lawsuit vigorously.

You can find the full Q-10 report at the SECinfo.com website.