Marvel Entertainment, one of the world’s largest character-based entertainment companies since 1939, has settled a lawsuit against the heirs of legendary comic-book artist Jack Kirby.

In the 1960’s, Kirby helped create some of Marvel’s most timeless superheroes, including the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and Spider Man. Family members of Jack Kirby wanted to abolish Marvel’s copyrights from 2014 to 2019 on comics that were published from 1958 to 1963. The comics in the case included classics such as The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, The X-Men, The Avengers, Ant-Man, Nick Fur and The Rawhide Kid.

When the case went to Supreme Court, the comic-book giant argued that Kirby created the characters while he was working for Marvel, making the characters property of the company. American District Judge Colleen McMahon agreed, claiming that the 1909 copyright law that concerns this case considerers Marvel to be the owner of Kirby’s work. Judge McMahon claimed that the work was in fact “for hire”, as the characters were made at Marvel’s disbursement. The appeals court agreed with this statement and the federal appeals court rejected the ownership claim from Kirby’s family in August.

In a joint statement from Marvel and Kirby’s family, both parties announced that “Marvel and the family of Jack Kirby have amicably resolved their legal disputes, and are looking forward to advancing their shared goal of honouring Mr. Kirby’s significant role in Marvel’s history.”

In my opinion, I applaud Marvel for resolving this case in a respectful, gracious manner. The lawsuit could have been dreadful for both parties but with the joint statement above, I believe that Marvel settled this case without major damage to their image. This article made me think of what was said in class the other day – “A company should always strive to improve itself. A company may falter at times but the important thing is that it regains its strength, asking what it can do to better itself.” Marvel, being the colossal corporation it is, demonstrates that they know this best.

Find the original article here.

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