NY court: Marvel can keep Spider-Man, X-Men comics

[August 09, 2013]  NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal appeals court has sided with Marvel in a dispute about who owns the rights to popular comic heroes including Spider-Man, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York agreed with a lower court Thursday in rejecting claims by artist Jack Kirby's family.

Kirby died in 1994. His heirs wanted to terminate Marvel's copyrights from 2014 through 2019 to comics published from 1958 to 1963.

Marvel sued in January 2010 to prevent it.

Comics in the case included The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, Iron Man, The X-Men and The Avengers.

Marvel Worldwide Inc. had said the work was done "for hire," a legal term that would render the heirs' claims invalid. The appeals court agreed.

[Associated Press]

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