Stan Lee Media, Inc. sues Disney?

"In its suit, SLMI says that Lee signed over the rights to comic book characters that he created or would create to its corporate predecessor in October 1998."

“Oddly, in November, 1998, Stan Lee signed a written agreement with Marvel Enterprises, Inc. in which he purportedly assigned to Marvel the rights to the Characters."

Stan Lee still had the rights to these characters in 1998? Either way, the two signings a month apart from each other is an interesting coincidence. Can't wait to see how this turns out. Excelsior!

Stan Lee’s Former Company Claims Disney Doesn’t Own Marvel Superheroes; Wants Billions in Damages
http://www.deadline.com/2012/10/stan-lee-media-lawsuit-walt-disney-marvel-superheroes-copyright-infringement/

Stan's memory is famously bad, but this ups it to swiss cheese status. As far as Lee having rights to Marvel characters until late 1998, I wonder if that's a case of, he signed over any rights he --might-- have. Do you know what I mean? He never tried to publish something with the characters against Marvel's wishes. If he had, the company I'm sure would have contested that Lee did not have rights to the characters. If Stan Lee Media were to win this suit, it would establish that Lee did have the character rights at the time he signed. I don't favor them in a legal battle with Disney though, their pockets are just too deep.

The Stan Lee Media people are just sharks looking for a payday.

I take that back. They aren't even sharks, they are the lampreys parasitically clinging to the undersides of actual sharks, hoping to jawlessly slurp up whatever leftovers the sharks haven't already digested.

Stan Lee never had the rights to any of the Marvel characters, as he himself has attested numerous times in court. He has made his living by attesting exactly that for decades. If the SLM-ers ever thought they could somehow ride the coattails of the creators' rights agenda to build their own corporate empire, using Stan Lee as their vehicle, they were fools.

And if they now have some new lawyers who think they can scrape up some fees by filing baseless suits, well, that's just another round of foolishness.

Peter Urkowitz wrote:

The Stan Lee Media people are just sharks looking for a payday.

Maybe they are hoping Disney will just buy the company. It would have to be cheaper than fighting them in court.

Stan Lee is the Walt Disney of comics. Would Marvel need to pay actual Stan Lee for the use of his name anymore if Disney owned Stan Lee Media? He's be an actual Disney character then wouldn't he?

Haha, funny notion!

But seriously, no. Marvel/Disney knows that paying the actual Stan Lee whatever they currently do is one of the best investments they can make. It saves them from ever having to pay royalties to any other old creator, because his testimony in court and in public is always Exhibit One.

Whatever imaginary rights SLM claims to own, they can't match the real thing.

And Marvel/Disney loves to spend money on lawyers more than on anything else. It's like they don't see that as real money, they can just write it off as a cost of doing business. Unlike paying creators, which is seen as an actual expense.