Another victory for Siegel estate

The estate of Superman creator Jerry Siegel has won another legal victory.

A federal judge has ruled that the Siegel heirs own the rights to Action Comics #4, pages 3-6 of Superman #1 and the first two weeks worth of Superman comic strips, all containing early appearances of Superman.

The Siegels are now in control of the character's Krypton story, including Superman's birth parents Jor-El and Lara, the infant Clark Kent and his crash-landing on Earth.

Siegel and his partner Joe Shuster created Superman in the early 1930s. They sold off their rights to DC for $130 and a 1974 court verdict stated that they had signed away the copyrights forever. However, the latest ruling found that Superman was not created as "works-made-for-hire".

DC has retained other aspects of the Superman story, including the character's ability to fly, villain Lex Luthor and Jimmy Olsen.

"Warner and DC Comics are pleased that the court has affirmed that the vast majority of key elements associated with the Superman character that were developed after Action Comics # are not part of the copyrights that the plaintiffs have recaptured and therefore remain solely owned by DC Comics," Warner and DC said in an issued statement.

Shuster's estate won a similar ruling to win back the rights for the first Superman in Action Comics, which takes effect from 2013. If Warner Bros fail to get a new Superman film into cinemas by that time, Siegel and Shuster's heirs will be able to set up movies, TV shows and other Superman products away from Warner Bros and DC.