Writing for Barron’s, Bill Alpert provides an overview of Stan Lee Media’s $5 billion lawsuit against Marvel Entertainment, filed back in March 2007.

The article doesn’t appear to be tied to any movement in the suit, but instead relies on Marvel’s current box-office success as a news hook. Still, it’s a good summary of the players and events surrounding the case: infamous entrepreneur Peter F. Paul, a bankrupt dot-com, Stan himself, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The lawsuit asserts that in 1998 Lee assigned his intellectual property to Stan Lee Media before he negotiated a new contract with Marvel — the previous one was rejected during Marvel’s bankruptcy — in which he relinquished claims to ownership of the characters he co-created.

So Stan Lee Media, which is being sued by Stan Lee, claims it co-owns Lee’s Marvel creations, and should receive half of the money Marvel has earned from them. Marvel, of course, says the lawsuit has no merit.

Confused yet? Go read the article.

Tom Spurgeon reported late on Friday that DC refused to allow an excerpt of Paul Pope’s roundly acclaimed Batman Year 100 from being included in this year’s edition, despite the efforts of guest editor Lynda Barry, series editors Matt Madden and Jessica Abel, Pope himself, and publisher Houghton Mifflin:

Pope said that he was contacted fairly only on in the process by Madden and Abel to try and get the comics publisher to OK the addition. “I made formal requests, as did Lynda and a number of other people with some degree of influence.” One unfortunate outcome is that it may have kept Pope from the book altogether. “Jessica and Matt said not to worry, because if DC would not allow the addition of my Batman pages, they would be running my story “Fun! Comics” — from THB:CFM #1, which debuted at SDCC that year — so I would be in the collection regardless. Despite the fact that I own THB and Batman was a work for hire project, I wanted to see the Batman pages run in the book as well, so I lobbied for that. Lynda had been searching for some superhero material to add to the series, mine fit the bill. Her intention was to shed light on quality material from the so-called ‘mainstream’ of comics. I’m all for that.

“Months went by and I figured the matter was dead in the water, que sera sera. Then I get an email in the 11th [hour] from HM, letting me know they were about to go to press and were still trying to get DC to OK the addition of the Batman pages. In the end, DC took so long to formally deny the request that it not only prevented the Batman pages from running, it also forced HM to go ahead with the book without any material from me at all.”

Related: The revelation initially came out of this extended interview Spurgeon did with Barry. Which you really should read.

When we last left our discussion of the dispute over the copyrights to Superman and Superboy, the judge had ordered the Siegels, DC and Time Warner to engage in settlement negotiations. Originally the mediation was to last 60 days, but scheduling conflicts pushed the deadline for the parties’ joint progress report back to the end of June.

As Newsarama readers have noted, DC Comics Executive Editor Dan DiDio made an offhand comment this weekend at Wizard World Chicago that has led some to wonder whether the Superboy lawsuit has been settled. Here’s the scoop from the “DCU Crisis” panel:

DiDio also paused to point out the special nature of Legion of Three Worlds. “We’ve got Geoff, we’ve got George, we’ve got SuperBOY Prime (yes, we can say that again).”

This could reasonably be taken as a sign that the Superboy lawsuit is over — after all, it was the Siegel family’s initially successful (but later vacated) attempt to reclaim the character that apparently led DC to take the name off the market.

However, DiDio’s reference to Superboy is not the only piece of evidence to emerge this weekend. On Friday, the Siegels and Time Warner filed their joint progress report in the Superboy and Superman lawsuits. This report states that the parties have not reached a settlement, despite four mediation sessions attended by their lawyers and DC President and Publisher Paul Levitz.

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According to Photo District News, an L.A. photographer has filed a lawsuit against Marvel and Paramount, accusing them of using a photo he took of Iron Man as part of a mock newspaper front page in the film.

Photographer Ronnie Adams shot a series of photos of the Iron Man set back in May of 2007 from a parking structure with a view of the set, which were posted on the movie site IESB.net. Paramount managed to shut down the site for a brief time over the photos. Now Adams claims Paramount used one of his photos in the film without his permission.

The picture in question features Iron Man from behind a chain -ink fence. Adams claims it’s the same picture used in a scene in the movie, where Tony Stark is reading the paper and the front-page headline asks “Who is the Iron Man?”

Photo District News has a side-by-side comparison (click on the image on their site to open the pop up), so you can see for yourself how well they match up. Of course, it’s also possible that someone associated with the film took a shot of that scene as well.

Adams is asking for unspecified monetary damages, as well as “an order stopping Paramount and Marvel from using the picture in the DVD release of the movie, in advertising and in any video game,” according to the story.

(Thanks, Larry!)

Comics retailer and convention organizer Michael George was sentenced this morning to life in prison in the 1990 murder of his first wife Barbara.

He’ll remain in the Macomb County, Mich., jail until Aug. 8, when Circuit Judge James Biernat will hear defense attorneys’ arguments for a new trial.

George was convicted March 17 of first-degree murder, felony firearm, insurance fraud and obtaining money from an insurance agency under false pretenses. He shot his wife in the head on July 13, 1990, in the back of their Clinton Township comic store and staged in to look like a robbery.

ICv2.com reports that Publishers Services International Publisher Services, Incorporated, a distributor to the book and hobby markets, has sued Dabel Brothers Publishing, alleging breach of contract.

According to the lawsuit, filed last Friday, PSI began negotiations in August 2007 — around the time the Dabels split with Marvel — to become Dabel Brothers’ exclusive sales and fulfillment agent. PSI advanced the Dabel Brothers $45,500, apparently anticipating a happy conclusion to those negotiations, as well as a $50,000 payout from Marvel to the Dabels.

However, Dabel Brothers instead signed with Del Rey. According to the complaint, just $12,500 of the advance was repaid. The lawsuit seeks the remaining $30,000, plus legal costs and interest.

Dabel Brothers Vice President Les Dabel tells ICv2 his company has been making payments to PSI.

Update: 1:30 p.m. PT — The correct name for the distributor is Publisher Services, Incorporated, as I noted above.

After a lengthy deliberation, Macomb County, Mich., Circuit Judge James Biernat this morning upheld the jury’s conviction of retailer and convention organizer Michael George in the 1990 murder of his first wife Barbara.

Defense attorney Carl Marlinga had argued that the evidence wasn’t sufficient for the March 17 conviction of his client on charges of first-degree murder, felony firearm, insurance fraud and obtaining money from an insurance agency under false pretenses.

George faces life in prison without parole.

Update: The Detroit Free Press has more extensive coverage, including quotes from attorneys and Barbara George’s family.

The judge in the Michael George murder case said today he’ll rule May 23 on a motion to overturn the jury conviction.

George, a retailer and co-founder of Pittsburgh Comic-Con, was convicted on March 17 of first-degree murder, felony firearm and insurance fraud in the 1990 killing of his first wife Barbara in the back of their Clinton Township, Mich., comic store.

This morning, Macomb County Circuit Judge James Biernat listened to arguments on the defense’s post-verdict request to set aside the jury’s decision. Biernat said the verdict, which was based entirely on circumstantial evidence, deserves careful consideration.

“Any injustice done in the name of justice is the worst injustice of all,” The Detroit Free Press quoted Biernat as saying.

Editor’s note: Jeff Trexler returns to Blog@Newsarama … the following post on Thomas Denton’s recent charity auctions originally appeared over on his blog, and he graciously agreed to let me cross-post it here.

Above: Be careful what you wish for . . .

Remember a week or so ago when I posted that charity is not a viable defense to IP infringement? Some well-meaning folk in the charity biz said I was being “contentious,” but the fact is, this is the law. You can defy it or pretend it doesn’t exist, but if you do there can be serious consequences.

Case in point: the cancellation of the Say It Backwards Superman auctions for Candlelighters. Whether or not you think the move is good PR, Time Warner–if it did indeed file the objection–has solid legal grounds for asking eBay to pull the items containing its trademarks or copyrighted characters.

Why would a company risk a backlash by taking action against charity? And what about the common practice of artists selling commissioned works featuring DC or Marvel heroes? I’m in the middle of grading exams so our overview will have to be brief, but here are a few important things to note:

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The Grand Rapids Press reports that Marvin Michael-Marquis Jones, one of three people police believe was involved in the shooting of comics retailer David Pirkola, waived his probable cause hearing and will stand trial in Kent County Circuit Court. Jones faces charges of armed robbery and attempted murder.

Jones’ lawyer, Michael Liquigli, says his client is negotiating with the prosecutor on a plea agreement.

The paper also reports that Pirkola remains in serious condition. iFanboy continues to accept donations and auction items that will benefit Pirkola. Becky Cloonan donated the piece that accompanies this post.

The Dateline NBC website has the complete transcript, and partial video, from last night’s episode, which focused on the murder trial of retailer Michael George.

George, co-founder of Pittsburgh Comic-Con, was convicted in March in the 1990 killing of his first wife Barbara. A jury found that he shot her in the back of their Clinton Township, Mich., comic store, and staged the crime to look like a robbery.

Next week Circuit Court Judge James Biernat is expected to hear arguments on the defense attorneys’ motion to set aside the jury verdict.

Police have arrested two suspects in the April 25 shooting of Grand Rapids, Mich., comics retailer David Pirkola.

According to The Grand Rapids Press, James Muriel-Neal Thompson, 18, and Michael-Marquis Jones, 19, were arrested the following day and arraigned on April 28 on charges armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and assault with intent to murder. However, police only now released the information.

Pirkola, owner of Apparitions Comics and Books, was shot during the evening robbery of his store. He remains in critical condition at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital.

Police continue to look for a third suspect, 18-year-old Jevon Marquis Sawyer.

iFanboy is raising funds to help with Pirkola’s medical bills and the operation of his store.

An editorial in today’s Rome, Ga., News-Tribune takes the Floyd County district attorney to task for her three-year prosecution of retailer Gordon Lee.

Lee originally was charged with six counts stemming from a Halloween 2004 giveaway during which one of his employees mistakenly handed a copy of the Alternative Comics #2 Free Comic Book Day sampler to a boy. The issue depicts a naked Pablo Picasso. After a mistrial and numerous delays, the case finally was dismissed on April 19, with Lee writing a letter of apology to the family of the boy.

“In the end,” the News-Tribune editorial states, “the only thing Leigh Patterson, the Floyd County district attorney, could do to Gordon Lee after more than three years of trying was turn him into a comic-book hero.”

The newspaper goes on to say the case gave Rome “a new black eye.”

David Pirkola, owner of Apparitions Comics and Books in Grand Rapids, Mich., is in critical but stable condition in a local hospital after being shot during a robbery at his store Friday night. The Grand Rapids Press reports that a man entered the store around 7 p.m. and demanded money, shot Pirkola and fled. The crime remains under investigation.

iFanboy.com is currently raising funds to help out Pirkola:

So iFanboy is putting out the call to you, comics fans to help a retailer in need. We’ve set up a PayPal donation button below to allow you donate as much as you’d like. You can use credit cards or bank accounts, and don’t need a PayPal account to donate. All money donated will be sent to David Pirkola to help with his medical bills, as well as to keep his store afloat, so if you can spare it, please donate below.

We will also be reaching out to our friends in the industry to help as well, so stay tuned for possible giveaways or auctions of comics goodness, the proceeds of which will go to helping David and his recovery.

A judge in Macomb County, Mich., ruled today that attorneys for retailer Michael George can argue to have his jury verdict overturned.

George was convicted on March 17 in the 1990 slaying of his first wife Barbara. Prosecutors say he shot her in the back of their Clinton Township comic-book store, and staged the crime to look like a robbery. Earlier this month George’s attorneys asked that the verdict be set aside.

Today, Circuit Court Judge James Biernat said defense attorneys can argue on May 6 for a directed verdict.

If the motion is unsuccessful, George faces life in prison without parole. He’s being held in the Macomb County Jail until the May 6 hearing.

In what Heidi MacDonald aptly described as “shaman’s magic,” several weeks ago Grant Morrison portrayed the young Siegel and Shuster changing the world in a comic released on the very same day that a federal judge issued his historic ruling in the Superman case.

As longtime DC comics readers may recall, this was not the first time that Siegel and Shuster had the power to remake reality with their words. For example, in Action Comics #447, a storyteller named Joseph Jerome can fashion reality, including Superman, with the power of his imagination. Likewise, Action #554 relates how two boys save the world by creating Superman through the force of their belief. Yet as we have already seen in this series, not all depictions of their imaginative power are so sanguine. The Siegel-and-Shuster Superman in Adventures of Superman #612 is depicted as a relic of a long-forgotten past; while the power of imagination may bring him to life, the realities of life today might also make him obsolete.

This tension between past and present is equally evident in the Siegel case. On the one hand, for many within the comics community the ruling was a symbolic victory in the struggle for creators’ rights, vindicating not just Siegel and Shuster, but legions of comic book artists and writers whose genius was exploited by corporate greed.

Yet much to the surprise of longtime industry watchers, the judgment also provoked a strong negative response. Some critics focused on the fact that the winner was not Siegel himself but his heirs, who were said to have gained an unearned windfall. Other observers went a step further, questioning the wisdom of a law that voids otherwise valid contracts, and accusing the Siegels themselves of exploiting Superman for their own financial gain.

As you may have noticed if you’ve been reading comment threads, the debate can get rather intense. In this, our last post of the series, we’ll examine how the creative vision of Siegel and Shuster helped give rise to both sides.

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No offense to the Rome News-Tribune, who have done a good job of covering the Gordon Lee case over the last few years, but I’m kind of hoping this is the last time I have to link to them on the matter. In any event, they report on the closing of the case, noting that Lee wrote a letter of apology to the family that received the offending copy of Alternative Comics’ Free Comic Book Day book back in 2004:

Charges against local comic book store owner Gordon Lee have been dismissed, according to Floyd County District Attorney Leigh Patterson.

“I’m still catching my breath from it,” Lee said Sunday. “(The announcement) hit me so quick that everything is still a blur.”

Patterson said the case was dismissed after her office met with Lee’s counsel and decided a measure other than prosecution could be taken in resolving the case.

“He did a written apology to the victims in the case,” said Patterson.

Congrats to Lee and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund on the end of the case.

Update: A press release from the CBLDF adds a little more context on the letter Lee wrote:

Following the mistrial, Rome District Attorney Leigh Patterson vowed to bring the case back for trial on the next misdemeanor calendar. Last winter, CBLDF counsel filed a motion to dismiss on grounds of prosecutorial misconduct. That filing detailed the history of the prosecutor’s errors up to and including the mistrial. Last February, the next trial calendar came and went without Gordon’s case being called and without that motion being heard. Shortly afterwards, Patterson’s office contacted Lee’s counsel, and said they would be willing to drop the case if Gordon wrote a letter of apology. Lee had always been willing to write such a letter, and promptly delivered one to Patterson’s office, where it sat for several weeks. After multiple attempts to bring the matter to a close, CBLDF counsel finally succeeded in moving Patterson’s office to live up to their end of the agreement and drop the case last Friday.

Who could’ve guessed that retailer Gordon Lee, comics legend Stan Lee, DC’s Wildstorm imprint and Virgin Comics would be the big newsmakers on the first day of New York Comic Con?

The big story, without a doubt, was the announcement Friday evening by Neil Gaiman that charges against Rome, Ga., retailer Gordon Lee have been dropped.

Lee’s legal battle stemmed from a Halloween 2004 giveaway during which one of his employees mistakenly handed a copy of the Alternative Comics #2 Free Comic Book Day sampler to a boy. The issue depicts a naked Pablo Picasso. After several false starts, the case finally went to court in October, only to end in mistrial during the prosecutor’s opening statement.

Gaiman said Friday the case has cost the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which represented Lee, more than $100,000.

But Gordon wasn’t the only Lee in the spotlight: Stan Lee (no relation) kicked off the convention in fine form Thursday night when he was presented with the inaugural New York Comics Legend award. The event, held at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square, drew countless creators and media-types, including Comic Foundry’s Laura Hudson, who had an interesting encounter with the folks from Virgin Comics.

The Stan Lee juggernaut continued on Friday during the invitation-only event for Ultimo, his collaboration with Shaman King creator Hiroyuki Takei for Shueisha’s Jump SQ.II spin-off magazine. As expected, Viz Media’s “exciting news” is that Ultimo will be released in North America shortly.

But wait! The Man isn’t finished: He’ll oversee a line of superhero comics for Virgin Comics, which also announced that writer Grant Morrison and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur are collaborating on an animated series to be delivered via the Internet and mobile phone. The series, titled MBX, is a futuristic retelling of the Mahabharata epic poem.

DC’s Wildstorm imprint, meanwhile, continued efforts to rebrand itself — or, perhaps, simply brand – with the announcement of three license acquisitions: Prototype, Gears of War, and The X-Files. That last property is expected to be officially announced today. However, X-Files creator Chris Carter let the information slip last night.

More coverage of New York Comic Con: