The Judge in the lawsuit between Warner Bros. and the heirs of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster has denied the studio’s request to bring to light secret documents between the estates of the two creators and any possible “joint venture” agreements with lawyer Marc Toberoff. Toberoff got the judge to agree that those agreements were protected by attorney client privilege.

 

Last year Warner Bros. went on the offensive (see “Studio Sues Superman Mouthpiece”) charging that Toberoff had interfered with agreements between the studio and the heirs, and had finagled a deal that would give him 47.5% share of any Superman rights he was able to recover. Toberoff countered that he was on retainer and had made no agreement to obtain a share of the Superman rights. The lawsuit got nasty as the DC/Warners lawyers pushed Jerry Siegel’s 93-year-old through a torturous discovery process (see “DC, Warners Shame”).

 

Warner Bros. based their argument on a 9th Circuit Court decision that held that third parties who have not yet attained copyright control in a work couldn’t traffic in future efforts. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Judge decided that the circumstances in this case in which “the heirs of the original creators apparently agreed to negotiate together, and not grant future rights to anyone, including Warners,” were different. 

 

The Judge refused to decide if the agreement between the Superman heirs violated copyright laws. The agreement or agreements, which will remain secret for now, might have shed some light on the future of Superman rights, some which will go to the Siegel and Shuster estates in 2013. Warner Bros. is currently busting its hump to get Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot in theaters by 2013. After that, the future of The Man of Steel is very much in doubt. The only thing that appears certain is that the legal battle will likely continue in some form or another.