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Marvel's Win over Kirby Estate

By Jan Wolfe
August 29, 2011

It's been a good stretch for Marvel Entertainment and its former president Stan Lee, the ever-youthful 87-year old face of the company. Marvel characters Thor and Captain America have dominated the box office. Lee keeps winning over young fans with his blink-and-you'll-miss-them film cameos. (Look closely for him as a truck driver trying to dislodge Thor's hammer in Thor or as a general at an award ceremony in Captain America: The First Avenger). Now, thanks to a Stan Lee role on the witness stand, Marvel and its parent The Walt Disney Co. were able claim a win in the courtroom.

District Judge Colleen McMahon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently granted summary judgment to Marvel and its league of lawyers at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, Haynes and Boone and Weil, Gotshal & Manges, in the declaratory copyright case brought against Marvel by the estate of comic book legend Jack Kirby. McMahon ruled that Kirby's heirs could not claim rights to valuable characters he created for Marvel, like Spiderman, X-Men and the Incredible Hulk. Marvel Worldwide Inc. v. Kirby, 10 Civ. 141. The Paul Hastings team was led by Jodi Kleinick. James Quinn, Randi Singer and R. Bruce Rich represented Marvel at Weil, and David Fleischer at Haynes and Boone worked on the case.

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