Stan Lee Media sues Disney for billions of dollars

18 Comments

1. This story is on Reuters.com and many other reputable sites. According to Reuters, Walt Disney’s statement: “This lawsuit is without merit. It arises out of the same core facts and legal claims that have been rejected by three federal district court judges.”

   I would agree that based upon other intellectual property claims in comics, that “Stan Lee Media” does not stand a chance…

2. @Boomstick-Other news outlets, like the LA Times and the Times Live have reported this so it’s looking like it’s true.

3. Stan very likely would have signed a straightforward contract signing over all creative rights to his employer. That was (and is) standard practice, though there may (or may not be) grey areas.

   That said, it pays to remember that DigitalSpy is a gossip site. Much as many of us dislike Disney/Marvel’s corporate culture and prevailing atitudes, it’s smarter to wait until more definitive facts are in.

4. Stan never owned any of these characters, and surely he had the brains to know that. It’s one thing to let fans lionize him as if he was the sole creator of Spider-Man, which was unprincipled but not illegal. But he’s not stupid; he has known his entire professional life that Marvel Inc. owns all of these characters. I don’t believe Stan ever signed anything over to anyone.

5. “The question remains, are they using/acting in Stan Lee’s name?”

   No. Not one bit. It’s sad that people will assume stan is behind this because of the company’s name.

   “if they are not acting in his behest, how can they presume to be acting in his interest regarding his creations?”

   They are claiming that Stan signed over all of his ownership to any marvel characters he created and that they now own them. Even if Stan signed his ownership over, it means nothing because he had no ownership to sign over. Stan Lee Media are acting on their own behalf to scam anything they can get that doesn’t belong to them.

6. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for Marvel/Disney. Marvel, not too long ago, had an infringement lawsuit they brought up in court dismissed because they (Marvel) were caught fabricating evideence. That said, if-IF-SLM is indeed acting without Stan’s permission, I don’t root for them eihter.

   The question remains, are they using/acting in Stan Lee’s name? (a trademark he DOES own) and, if they are not acting in his behest, how can they presume to be acting in his interest regarding his creations?

   This is probably going to be a prolonged, tangled legal mess, with neither side coming out smelling like roses.

7. @#10

   … then I hope Marvel/Disney rapes them over a barrel!

8. A disturbing development, this. What puzzles me is how SLM can hope to sue for copyright if Stan himself is signator on whatever agreement is in question. And #8 has raised a good question about why SLM retains Stanb’s name. Has Stan himself issued any statement?

9. STAN HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS! Stan Lee Media is the company that was run by con man Peter Paul and suckered poor Stan and others to invest in the company. Stan has long since severed all ties with the company and has even been involved in lawsuits against them. Despite this, they still have legal right to the name Stan Lee Media. Since going bankrupt, the company has brought up crazy lawsuits for outrageous amounts over and over again. It’s all a huge scam and Stan has enough class to have nothing to do with.

   When I hung out in Stan’s office with the producers of his documentary (finally coming out on DVD), this subject came up and Stan express such shame and remorse for having been taken in by Peter Paul. He said he seemed so genuine and so connected to everyone and everything. He even arranged for Stan to meet then president Bush and receive a special lifetime achievement award from him. As soon as the company began to crumble and the shady deals started to show, Stan got the hell out and cut all connections. He’s been running his own company POW ever since.

10. Stan is not involved. Why would he get a cut?

11. why is it still called stan lee media when the man himself isnt involved anymore? 🙂 And if they win(however unlikely) Stan should get a huge cut out of it.

12. Really? Wow, that’s a new one on me.

13. Stan Lee is not even involved in the suit. SLM is his old company that tried to even sue him at one time. I hope this suit gets thrown out.

14. after what I’ve learned about the relationship between Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, I’m not sure how to feel about this…

15. I admire chutzpah. Stan-however peripherally he is involved almost certainly doesn’t have much of a chance of actually this, but you have to admire him. My feeling is that this is probably more geared towards “the principle of the thing” than actually winning the five billion.

    I mean look at the prolonged legal war going on over the rights to Superman.

    Still, good to see Stan’s indomitable spirit is undimmed.

16. From what I hear, Stan isn’t actually involved with this company. He’s with POW now.

17. Actually, it important to note that Stan Lee has nothing to do with this as he left this company in the late 2000’s

18. Go, Stan the man!