Warner Bros DC Comics wing has scored a legal win in its long-running battle over control of the Superman's rights with the estates of Man of Steel's creators, Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster.
In a ruling issued Tuesday, the U.S 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied an effort by attorney, Marc Toberoff, who reps the Siegel and Shuster heirs, to assert attorney-client privilege over doc*ments that DC Comics claims are key to the litigation involving control over the famed superhero.
The three judged panel ruled unianimously that Toberoff can't assert the privilege because he had already disclosed the doc*ments to the government as part of it's criminal investigation of a lawyer, David Michaels, who briefly worked for Toberoff, "before absconding with copies of several doc*ments from the Siegel and Shuster files," according to the ruling.
The doc*ments in question are a letter and other materials that Michaels sent to execs at DC Comics in an effort to "detail Toberoff's alleged master plan to capture Superman for himself," the ruling states. DC Comics execs gave the material to an outside attorney but then sought to obtain them as evidence through discovery motions in two other ongoings Superman cases.
Toberoff fought the disclosure, spurring DC Comics to file a separate lawsuit against in 2010. Toberoff has maintained that while the doc*ments were given to federal prosecutors as part of their investigation of Michaels, their decision amounted to a "selected-waiver" of attorney-client privilege. Last year, a district court ruled in favour of the disclosure of the doc*ments to DC Comics.
Warner Bros believes the doc*ments are central to proving it's assertion that the Siegel and Shuster heirs had reached a settlement agreement with the studio in 2001, before Toberoff entered the picture as their lawyer and a prospective producer of future Superman properties. Appeals in that case, filed by DC Comics in 2004, are pending before the 9th Circuit.
The ruling on the doc*ment disclosure, penned by Judge Diamond F. O'Scannlain, goes out of it's way to comment on Toberoff's dual role as a lawyer and business partner of the Siegel & Shuster heirs.
"To pursue a goal (of producing a Superman pic), Toberoff created a joint venture between the heirs and an entity he owned. Toberoff served as both a business adviser and an attorney for that venture," O'Scannlian wrote. "The ethical and professional concerns raised by Toberoff's actions will likely occur to many readers, but they are not before this court."
An attorney for Toberoff did not respond to a request for comment.
@jayaottley The first and second Superman posters you've posted are pretty cool meaning on the post that you posted 3 posters all at the same time, and yes of course they are fan made because they don't look like Man of Steel posters that Warner Bros would release for Man of steel anyway. They just don't look convincing enough to be real, other then the fact that "2012", is at the bottom of each of them.
@themoviefanatic I know, I saw the first one in a google image search while looking for pics for this article. And well thought I might as well post them here for you guys.
Also feel free to check out the new Batman Reboot forum, which is courtesy of Forbes.
@ejk1 Very much agreed, Posted this for you Supes fans of the comics here, as I know there are a few of you like @comicbookfan as well not if @dan1 is a Supes fan as well.
What a clusterf*ck reading about the legal issues. I'm glad that DC is getting its house in better order as well, but I won't be truly impressed until I see them start to give certain characters (*cough* Wonder Woman *cough*) their proper and respectful due.
@jayaottley Technically, DC Comics did not win back the Superman origin rights, as this forum misleads readers to think. Yes, they started a chain reaction that could possibly lead to such a venture, but they didn't necessarily "win the Superman ruling."
From Comic Alliance:
"...The rights to some of Superman's earliest appearances revert to the Siegel and Shuster estates in 2013 thanks to a previous legal victory by Toberoff in 2009 - shortly before Warner Bros launched its suit against Toberoff. How that rights split would play out in practical terms remains to be seen..."
Now what I remember from 2009 was that the "comic book" rights revert to the Heirs in 2011, and the "film" rights revert to the Heirs in 2013. So they could just be speaking of the film rights there, since they were going in detail about Toberoff and his plan on creating a new film under his controlling interests. The DC comic book rights have already reverted.
@jayaottley No problem, Ott. That's what I'm here for. I try to stay up on that stuff, and since Superman is one of my favorite universes, I have followed the lawsuit since '09 when I learned of the Siegel victory.
Warner Bros DC Comics wing has scored a legal win in its long-running battle over control of the Superman's rights with the estates of Man of Steel's creators, Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster.
In a ruling issued Tuesday, the U.S 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied an effort by attorney, Marc Toberoff, who reps the Siegel and Shuster heirs, to assert attorney-client privilege over doc*ments that DC Comics claims are key to the litigation involving control over the famed superhero.
The three judged panel ruled unianimously that Toberoff can't assert the privilege because he had already disclosed the doc*ments to the government as part of it's criminal investigation of a lawyer, David Michaels, who briefly worked for Toberoff, "before absconding with copies of several doc*ments from the Siegel and Shuster files," according to the ruling.
The doc*ments in question are a letter and other materials that Michaels sent to execs at DC Comics in an effort to "detail Toberoff's alleged master plan to capture Superman for himself," the ruling states. DC Comics execs gave the material to an outside attorney but then sought to obtain them as evidence through discovery motions in two other ongoings Superman cases.
Toberoff fought the disclosure, spurring DC Comics to file a separate lawsuit against in 2010. Toberoff has maintained that while the doc*ments were given to federal prosecutors as part of their investigation of Michaels, their decision amounted to a "selected-waiver" of attorney-client privilege. Last year, a district court ruled in favour of the disclosure of the doc*ments to DC Comics.
Warner Bros believes the doc*ments are central to proving it's assertion that the Siegel and Shuster heirs had reached a settlement agreement with the studio in 2001, before Toberoff entered the picture as their lawyer and a prospective producer of future Superman properties. Appeals in that case, filed by DC Comics in 2004, are pending before the 9th Circuit.
The ruling on the doc*ment disclosure, penned by Judge Diamond F. O'Scannlain, goes out of it's way to comment on Toberoff's dual role as a lawyer and business partner of the Siegel & Shuster heirs.
"To pursue a goal (of producing a Superman pic), Toberoff created a joint venture between the heirs and an entity he owned. Toberoff served as both a business adviser and an attorney for that venture," O'Scannlian wrote. "The ethical and professional concerns raised by Toberoff's actions will likely occur to many readers, but they are not before this court."
An attorney for Toberoff did not respond to a request for comment.
*Expect the larger image questions*
I didn't not get the end part of the comment
Also feel free to check out the new Batman Reboot forum, which is courtesy of Forbes.
From Comic Alliance:
"...The rights to some of Superman's earliest appearances revert to the Siegel and Shuster estates in 2013 thanks to a previous legal victory by Toberoff in 2009 - shortly before Warner Bros launched its suit against Toberoff. How that rights split would play out in practical terms remains to be seen..."
Now what I remember from 2009 was that the "comic book" rights revert to the Heirs in 2011, and the "film" rights revert to the Heirs in 2013. So they could just be speaking of the film rights there, since they were going in detail about Toberoff and his plan on creating a new film under his controlling interests. The DC comic book rights have already reverted.
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