Marvel Sues Disney Over Comic Royalties

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...arvel_lawsuit_2

 

Marvel Sues Disney Over Comic Royalties

 

Fri Jul 16, 7:50 PM ET

 

By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer

 

LOS ANGELES - Marvel Enterprises Inc., creators of such comic book superheroes as "Spider-Man" and "The Incredible Hulk" is suing The Walt Disney Co. in a royalty dispute over animation programs aired on Disney's ABC Family channel.

 

Marvel is asking for nearly $55 million in compensatory damages, interest and other fees it says it is owed for royalties generated by made-for-television episodes of "Spider-Man," "X-Men" and "The Incredible Hulk."

 

The agreements at issue in the lawsuit, filed late Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, were made before Disney acquired Fox Family Worldwide in 2001. The lawsuit claims Disney has not kept accurate records of royalties due under those inherited agreements.

 

Disney spokesman John Spelich said the company had not yet seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

 

Episodes of all three shows were made in the late 1990s and Disney inherited the right to air them and sell the shows on home video and into foreign markets, the lawsuit claims.

 

Marvel claims it is owed millions of dollars in royalties, including from the licensing of music associated with the shows.

 

It also claims Disney failed to aggressively market the shows, especially in light of the popularity the three titles have gained from the successful theatrical movies made by other studios.

 

"Indeed, although Disney is the heir to these important rights, it has treated these profitable properties as second rate," the lawsuit states.

 

The lawsuit, which claims $54.8 million in total damages, does acknowledge that Disney did pay some disputed royalties when asked.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Wow. Disney is really becoming one of the worst run companies in the US right now.

[Tawren 0]

" Wow. Disney is really becoming one of the worst run companies in the US right now."

 

Almost up there with Marvel.

 

...

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Guest SP-1]

Marvel's actually started turning around, I think.

[Tawren 0]

They are turning around, for sure, but they are still stuck deep in "quantity over quality" and the 90's shittiness will make it a long time before Marvel is given redemption.

[Guest TheJewof2001]

They are turning around, for sure, but they are still stuck deep in "quantity over quality" and the 90's shittiness will make it a long time before Marvel is given redemption.

Are you talking about what they did with TV or comics?

[Tawren 0]

Comics.

 

Pointless crossover after crossover, horrible continued attempts to change history and/or reboot characters (Chapter One, Heroes Reborn, so forth), the big ass long "epics" that needed to be told in less issues (Maximum Carnage, Onslaught, etc.), the love of killing off supporting characters, so much other dumb shit.

 

I liked the Saturday morning FOX cartoons though. Can't explain why.

[DangerousDamon 0]

Comics.

 

Pointless crossover after crossover, horrible continued attempts to change history and/or reboot characters (Chapter One, Heroes Reborn, so forth), the big ass long "epics" that needed to be told in less issues (Maximum Carnage, Onslaught, etc.), the love of killing off supporting characters, so much other dumb shit.

 

I liked the Saturday morning FOX cartoons though. Can't explain why.

Maybe the Saturday morning cartoons don't fuck the stories up?

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

They are turning around, for sure, but they are still stuck deep in "quantity over quality" and the 90's shittiness will make it a long time before Marvel is given redemption.

It's the opposite with Marvel. they want to tell MILLION PART stories to be sold in TPBs in Borders because they no longer respect the comic buying audience. They have NO ONE who knows the god damned characters and has a passion for storytelling. Comics on DVD, that shit is Marvel's idea. It's gotten them money, they're turning a profit (as is DC) and they've paid off their debt...

 

Too bad they had to sell their souls to do it.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Comics.

 

Pointless crossover after crossover, horrible continued attempts to change history and/or reboot characters (Chapter One, Heroes Reborn, so forth), the big ass long "epics" that needed to be told in less issues (Maximum Carnage, Onslaught, etc.), the love of killing off supporting characters, so much other dumb shit.

 

I liked the Saturday morning FOX cartoons though. Can't explain why.

The ratio of great stories in comics to in FOX Cartoons is somewhere in the 10,000 - 1 range.

 

Dismissing comics like that is your loss. More "Ten nights of the Beast" for someone else to discover and cherish.

[Tawren 0]

It's the opposite with Marvel.

Uh...I was talking about Marvel. We agreed there.

 

The ratio of great stories in comics to in FOX Cartoons is somewhere in the 10,000 - 1 range.

 

Agreed. All I said was that I liked the cartoons and didn't like a lot of the shit Marvel did in the 90's.

 

Dismissing comics like that is your loss. More "Ten nights of the Beast" for someone else to discover and cherish.

 

Mmm hmmm. I didn't dismiss comics. I read them all the time and love them. I just didn't like Maximum Carnage and the like.

 

It really sounds like we're agreeing.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

It's the opposite with Marvel.

Uh...I was talking about Marvel. We agreed there.

 

The ratio of great stories in comics to in FOX Cartoons is somewhere in the 10,000 - 1 range.

 

Agreed. All I said was that I liked the cartoons and didn't like a lot of the shit Marvel did in the 90's.

 

Dismissing comics like that is your loss. More "Ten nights of the Beast" for someone else to discover and cherish.

 

Mmm hmmm. I didn't dismiss comics. I read them all the time and love them. I just didn't like Maximum Carnage and the like.

 

It really sounds like we're agreeing.

No, you said they were like they were in the 90's. I was just saying that their problems are similar, but because of intentions that are completely different.

 

On the second point, it really sounded like you were dissing comics in general.

[Tawren 0]

No, I said they are still stuck deep in quantity over quality (which they are - why the hell does Spidey need to be involved in Avengers Disassembled? Why does Mary Jane need a book anyways?) and that they still have a long way to go before they can atone for there shit in the 90's. Looking at my post, I can see how you got that, but I didn't say that.

 

On the second point, I was dissing Marvel's 90's shittiness, not comics in general. And the 90's for Marvel did, on the whole, suck ass.

[cynicalprofit 0]

Comics on DVD, that shit is Marvel's idea.

Um, not really. Malibu, I believe that was the name, they were later bought by Marvel, they did Prime and I dont know who else, tried doing comic books on cd-rom years ago. Which is basically the same idea. I had the prime one, wasn't anything to special.

 

I haven't read a marvel comic in ages and really untill they step away from their superheros are the only thing we care about attitude, I'm sure it'll stay that way. Marvel really should steal from DC and their 75 issues of a story idea and character. I mean it worked well for Preacher and Sandman, and those were fantasic books. But alas, they'll continue to put out more and more spiderman crap over and over again untill they've literally burried him in heap of unsold spiderman spinoff books. I mean how many different times can spiderman beat the bad guy untill it becomes too boring.

 

As my boneyard press so wonderfully says:

 

"MARVEL CAN SUCK MY COCK"

 

Hey Raven hated it, so I know its cool.

[Steviekick 0]

Why the hell does Spidey need to be involved in Avengers Disassembled? Why does Mary Jane need a book anyways?

The reason they gave at Wizard World East for Spidey getting involved was that he is and has been on the Avengers reserve list for a long time. They also want to make Avengers more like Justice League in the sense that they are THE premier super hero team. Not that I necessarily agree with Spidey being on full time, but he is their flagship character. Secondly, a lot of Disassembled will involve chaos and destruction in New York City, so for continuity sake it would make sense that Spidey would pop his head in.

 

As for the Mary Jane book, from what I've read it's pretty much a retelling of Spider-Man from Mary Jane's stand point in a way that'll get the attention øf younger teenage girls who like reading crappy high school drama/romance books.