According to reports, Walt Disney Company (DIS) could face a copyright battle for Marvel characters having recently agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment (MVL) in a cash and stock deal worth approximately $4 billion.
The children of late artist Jack Kirby, represented by the Los Angeles law firm Toberoff & Associates have served notices related to copyright termination for 45 characters (including the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Thor and the Hulk) created by Jack Kirby, to Walt Disney, Marvel Entertainment, Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures.
Jack Kirby died in 1994. Sony Pictures owns movie rights to Spider-Man, and 20th Century Fox owns movie rights to the Fantastic Four and X-Men. Paramount Pictures has a film distribution deal for four upcoming films produced by Marvel, and Universal Pictures has distribution rights to Hulk movies.
Kirby’s children seek to get control of the characters, which would give them explicit right to license the characters for a fee or to sell them to a new licensee. If Kirby’s children win the copyright claims, Disney may end up losing ownership of many of Marvel’s most famous super-heroes characters.
The purchase of Marvel Entertainment is considered to be Disney’s largest acquisition since 2006, when it had purchased Pixar Animation Studios for $7.4 billion. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
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