Marc Toberoff, the controversial copyright attorney who is suing Warner Bros. on behalf of the heirs of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, has hired high-powered L.A. attorney Richard Kendall to defend him in the high-profile lawsuit brought by Warners charging that Toberoff acted improperly in urging the Siegel and Schuster heirs to terminate their agreements with the studio (see “Studio Sues Superman Mouthpiece”).  Ironically, as the Esq. Blog reports, Kendall spent much of his career as an entertainment lawyer defending the studios while he was working at the prestigious Irell & Manella law firm.

Meanwhile Toberoff has been busy on other fronts.  In May he filed a lawsuit against Rick Riordan and Hyperion charging that the Percy Jackson books infringed on the works of Robyn and Tony DiTocco, who wrote The Hero Perseus: A Mad Myth Mystery (2002) and Atlas’ Revenge: Another Mad Myth Mystery (2004), Y.A. novels that feature a teenage hero who is the descendant of Greek Gods.

While the Percy Jackson suit is a common sort of legal action that is similar to numerous infringement suits brought against Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling that have been summarily dismissed over the years, the Superman suit involves complex copyright termination and work-for-hire issues.  And, with the addition of Warner Bros. countersuit against Toberoff, it promises to become the kind of legal “battle royale” befitting the preeminent position of the granddaddy of all superheroes.