Marvel urged the court to reject the estate's
effort to reclaim Ditko's interest in the characters, arguing he
co-created them on the company's behalf. Ditko's estate argued
that he developed his heroes and stories independently, and that
Marvel intentionally avoided hiring him because of the "dire
state of its business" at the time.
Representatives for Marvel and Ditko's estate did not
immediately respond to requests for comment Monday. Ditko died
in 2018.
Under the Copyright Act, a creator can terminate a copyright
assignment after decades under certain circumstances. Marvel in
2021 sued Ditko's estate and several other artists who wrote and
illustrated comics in the 1950s, 60s and 70s in response to
their bids to terminate copyrights they granted to Marvel
related to characters including Iron Man, Ant-Man and Thor.
The termination law does not apply to works made for hire, which
Marvel said prevents the artists from recovering the rights. It
argued Friday that the case record showed Ditko worked under
Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee "subject to Lee's editorial
discretion."
"Ditko was accorded some creative freedom in how Lee’s story
would manifest on paper, but Lee maintained ultimate control
over the pages," Marvel said.
Marvel compared the lawsuit to a similar case it won at a U.S.
appeals court in 2013 involving illustrator Jack Kirby. That
case was settled in 2014 as the U.S. Supreme Court was set to
consider whether to take it up.
Ditko's estate argued that he was a freelancer for Marvel.
"Ditko, an extremely independent-minded artist, supervised
himself, edited his own work, and created the works after little
or no discussion with Lee," it said.
The estate also said Ditko could not have legally created the
works on behalf of the Marvel "shell companies" that registered
the copyrights, which it called the "Achilles' heel" of Marvel's
work-for-hire argument.
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)
(Photo: A person dressed as the character Spiderman attends the
premiere of the film "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of
Madness" in Los Angeles, U.S. May 2, 2022. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni)
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