Stan Lee Media—the creeping zombie of a company that no longer has anything to do with Stan Lee, but loves to say they have the rights to everything Stan ever came near—has just lost an appeal in another of it lawsuits, this one, a claim that they had the rights to Conan, saying that current rights holder Paradox Entertainment had obtained them fraudulently in a bankruptcy sale. An appeals court upheld a 2012 ruling that SLM had no claim to the Cimmerian.
“The ruling confirms what we have said all along: This was a meritless and frivolous lawsuit to cash in on others’ hard work. I’m glad that two courts agree,” Malmberg told me today. Long story short, there is now no legal sword at all hanging over Universal Pictures reboot The Legend Of Conan, with a script by Andrea Berloff and the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger to the role he first played way back in 1982.
Frankly, we’re a little surprised that anyone is bringing back Conan so soon after the Jason Momoa version bombed big time, but any IP in a storm. Plus, flabby King Conan-anator!
Frankly, the appeals court ruling, which you can read below, is rather unsatisfying, since it contains nothing but legalese, rather than a definitive statement telling Stan Lee Media that they are total shysters and can go to Niffleheim.
In case you missed previous chapters in the Stan Lee Media story, it’s too long to go into here, but the venture began back in the go go “interactive” late 90s. Founded in 1998, the company went out of business in 2000, but has lived on as a rapacious shell company, trying to get the rights to other things. A long running suit claiming they owned Marvel’s superheroes because of an agreement Stan made when he founded the company was denied, but not before they sued Stan himself. That’s just a very brief rundown of their crazy antics over the years, but surely they’ll be back at some point with some new odd claim.
[gview file=”https://www.comicsbeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/conan-the-barbarian-stan-lee-media-ninth-circuit__131022002711.pdf”]
God, so glad the interactive late ’90s are behind us!
Who is running Stan Lee Media that keeps bringing all these lawsuits? Where is the money to fund these suits coming from?
Who is running Stan Lee Media that keeps bringing all these lawsuits? Where is the money to fund these suits coming from?
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@nWoJeffDW:
My best friend told me that SLM is funded by the United States Federal Reserve as part of the ongoing QE4 program.
“This was a meritless and frivolous lawsuit to cash in on others’ hard work,” says the lawyer of a company that bought the Conan rights at a bankruptcy sale. Love it!
Stan Lee Media was gobbled up by what are commonly called “Venture Capitalist Vultures.” That being said they do retain the rights assigned to the company by Stan Lee. It’s just that Lee’s rights to the Marvel characters aren’t worth anything because Lee now says he created the characters as work-for-hire.
“NEW YORK, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Judge Stephen V. Wilson of the United States District Court in California today ruled that Stan Lee and Arthur Lieberman violated both the bankruptcy laws of the United States and the Orders of a Federal Bankruptcy Judge when they unlawfully transferred to POW and themselves assets belonging to Stan Lee Media Inc. (SLMI).
Stan Lee, Arthur Lieberman and Marvel enterprises are being sued for looting the Estate of Stan Lee Media, Inc. in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection from 2001-2006. Martin Garbus, Esq., on behalf of shareholders of SLMI filed a Shareholder Derivative action on January 26, 2009 in Manhattan federal court claiming 50% percent ownership in such mega-popular Super Hero entertainment franchises as Spider Man, Iron Man and the X-Men.”
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/10/11/51179.htm
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