The blogosphere is more or less abuzz with the news that the Siegel family regained some rights to Action Comics #1, and therefore to the character of Superman.
Poking around a little, there seems to be a fair bit of enthusiasm on the Siegels’ behalf; a sense that, after 70 years, they’ve finally been restored their rights. Personally, though, I don’t really see it. The man who created the character is Siegel, and he is dead. His heirs didn’t do diddly — why exactly should they get the rights to the character or to Siegel’s work?
Of course, the folks currently helming DC didn’t create the character, and there’s no reason they should have ownership either. The truth is, having this sort of litigation about a character as entrenched in the popular consciousness as Superman decades and decades after his creation is insane. Or, to put it another way, copyright lasts too, too, too long. At this point whatever injustice has been done is done. Enriching the man’s grandchildren isn’t going to make up for it. Action Comics #1 should be in the public domain; anybody should be able to use that character — which would, coincidentally, and happily, put an end to the endless process of self-cannibalism “powering” the increasingly irrelevant, oddly flatulent wendigo that is DC comics today.
I personally think had Siegel and Shuster gotten the fair value and rights for Superman, the families would be wealthly enough that they would never needed to sue DC. But the law as written by Congress extended the Copyright, so allowances were made to give fair recourse to these creators and heirs who may be shortchanged by the extensions. It may not solve the evil of perpetual copyright extension, but it does take a bit of the sting out of it for creators rights issues.
One could argue that if Superman had been allowed to already lapse into public domain, the heirs of Seigel simply would only have to Trademark “Jerry Seigel’s Superman” or joined with Shuster’s estate to Trademark Superman under both men’s names. They could have then marketed the legacy of the original Superman in much the same way Walt Disney marketed Public Domain characters as his own by simply affixing his name to the property.
copyrights are way too damn long, but i do think successful creators should be able to support their children even if they die untimelily. so i’d support a copyright term that is life *or* 40 years, whichever comes last.
that would leave superman in public domain now, i believe. but i’m sympathetic to this case, maybe for the reason thekamisama alluded to, that siegel & his family never got to enjoy copyright benefits to begin with.
also: i’m a regular reader & very occasional commenter here. i’m also coming out with a graphic novel this summer, & i’d love to send you a review copy & see what you think. can you email me, realgonegirlstudios@gmail.com ?