MARVEL, DISNEY IN COURT AGAIN OVER SPIDER-MAN SPAT

This from Findlaw: Comic superhero stable Marvel Enterprises Inc. has sued The Walt Disney Co., claiming the entertainment giant never had legal rights to make animated television programs based on comic book characters such as "Spider-Man" and "X-Men". In the suit, filed Friday in a U.S. District Court, Marvel accuses Disney of copyright infringement, fraud and unfair competition stemming from Disney's distribution of animated episodes of Marvel characters. According to New York-based Marvel

"Disney does not have the right to distribute and profit from Marvel's animated programming. Disney's continued telecasts over the ABC Family Channel and its other acts of exploitation infringe Marvel's copyrights".

Marvel says that (i) it entered into exclusive licensing agreements with companies that were eventually acquired by Disney, but never directly extended those rights to create or distribute programmes based on Marvel characters to Disney and that (ii) Disney failed to obtain written consent from Marvel before taking over the copyright in works originally licensed to the other companies.

The licensing agreements at issue in the lawsuit were made before Disney acquired Fox Family Worldwide in 2001. Made-for-television episodes of "Spider-Man," "X-Men" and "The Incredible Hulk" were made in the late 1990s.

The IPKat looks forward to watching this litigation, which should be a good deal more gripping (and realistic) than most of the episodes that triggered the suit.

Spider-Man here and here
X-Men here
X-rated spiders here and here
Make your own scary spiders here and here