A federal court has ruled in favor of Stan “the Man” Lee’s suit against Marvel, and has ordered them to pay him Many, Many Dollars (also covered here).
A federal judge has ordered Marvel Enterprises Inc. to pay the creator of the comic book character Spider-Man 10 percent of Marvel’s profits from the “Spider-Man” movies, Marvel said on Wednesday.
Marvel, a comic book publisher that licenses its characters, said the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered it to pay Spider-Man creator Stan Lee a share of proceeds it has received since November 1998 from movies, television shows and movie-related toys manufactured by Marvel. “Spider-Man,” released by Sony in 2002, was one of the top worldwide box office hits of all time.
A follow-up suit, claiming profits from a joint venture Marvel entered into with Sony, will proceed to court.
Marvel (duh) plans to appeal. Or, perhaps, to retreat to its Underground Island Fortress and plot revenge, REVENGE UPON THEM ALL!
(via the Beat)
Ok…
After being a bit freaked by the headline, Kudo’s to Mr. Lee. And I hope he keeps winning.
🙂
Hey! What about Steve Ditko???
Any number of creators who, arguably and ethically, should get cuts on these things. But Stan was clever enough to actually get some commitments on paper …
Speaking of headlines, the headline on this story in the Montreal Gazette is: “My Spider-Cents Are Jingling!”
Yeah, I’d seen another similar headline elsewhere (“Stan Gets Spidey-Cents.”
Which, given how movie profits (net vs gross) work may very well be an accurate assessment.