While the Kirby estate’s copyright termination filing is justifiably making headlines, the Superman case has some news of its own.
First, the parties have reported the results of their latest court-ordered mediation. In short, the case goes on:
In response to the Court’s Order of August 20,2009, the parties scheduled and conducted a day-long mediation in front of Hon. Daniel Weinstein (Ret.) on September 11,2009, which was the only date Judge Weinstein had available for in-person mediation within the Court-ordered period. The parties exchanged written settlement proposals prior to that mediation, and continued their settlement discussions in the week following the mediation, but were unable to settle these cases.
The fact that the case is continuing makes the next bit of legal news truly significant. The Hon. Stephen Larson, the judge in the Superman case, shocked the legal world by announcing his resignation, effective as of November 2, 2009. His stated reason: the judicial salary of $169,300 a year is not enough to support his seven children.
Larson had been pushing the case toward a settlement, and key issues remain unresolved. What Larson’s departure means for the case remains to be seen, but it could have a decided impact.
September 21st, 2009 at 11:50 am
Yeah, no kidding, like who could live on a mere $170K, anyway?! That’s practically poverty wages, that is.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Jeff,
On a slightly different note, do you no where someone can get a hold of the 47 termination notices that Kirby’s heirs filed? I tried searching on the Copyright Office’s website (via their cataloge search engine) but could not locate anything.
Moreover, do you know where one could go about locating some of the underlying correspondence, letters, agreements Kirby had with Timely/Marvel?
The Kirby filing really does seem to be the mother of all copyright termination notices, and I’d love to find as much about the backstory (the history of the various characters’ creation, the agreements signed or understandings between the parties, etc.,.) and the notices themselves. I’m thinking about perhaps writing something about them.
Thanks