SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011
Marvel artist Kirby’s heirs lose copyright claim A
federal judge ruled on Thursday that influential comic book artist Jack Kirby’s creations such as the Fantastic Four and the Hulk belong to Marvel Entertainment, and not his heirs. The decision in New York by US District Judge Colleen McMahon scuttles a copyright claim by Kirby’s heirs that threatened to undermine everything from Marvel’s movie projects to its integration into parent company Walt Disney Co. “I conclude that there are no genuine issues of material fact, and that the Kirby Works were indeed works for hire within the meaning of the Copyright Act of 1909,” McMahon wrote in her 50-page ruling. Jack Kirby, who died in 1994, is an iconic comic book artist whose role in the rise of Marvel is nearly on-par with the company’s former editor and writer Stan Lee. Kirby helped create such characters as the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, the X-Men, Captain America and Thor. Kirby’s heirs in 2009 laid claim to
In this image, the character Iron Man is shown in a scene from “Iron Man 2.” — AP copyrights for work he created from 1958 to 1963, when he had no written contract with Marvel and he drew up many of his most popular characters. During that five-year period, Kirby cocreated such Marvel comic book titles
as “The Fantastic Four,” “The Incredible Hulk” and “The Avengers.” Marvel sued the Kirby heirs after failing to reach a negotiated settlement with them over their copyright claims, which led to the ruling by McMahon on Thursday that
found the rights to the characters belongs to Marvel. McMahon said in her ruling that the case was not about whether Kirby and other artists “were treated ‘fairly’ by companies that grew rich off the fruit of their labor.” Instead, the case was simply about the law, McMahon wrote, and the judge pointed to a pair of 1970s written agreements between Kirby and Marvel that she said bolstered the company’s position that it owns characters Kirby helped create. Marc Toberoff, an attorney for the Kirby heirs, said he plans an appeal of the decision. “We knew when we took this on that it would not be easy given the arcane and contradictory state of ‘work for hire’ case law under the 1909 Copyright Act,” he said. In 2009, Marvel was bought by Disney for $4 billion. In the past decade, Marvel has seen its characters such as Spider-Man and Iron Man soar in movies. Its latest release “Thor” has earned over $447 million at worldwide box offices. — Reuters
Hollywood monkeys around this summer M
Actress Freida Pinto arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California July 28, 2011. — AFP
ovies have been messing with apes since a Hollywood director captured and chained that great gorilla on Skull Island and brought him to Broadway in 1933’s “King Kong.” The reason, of course, is as plain as the image in the mirror. Apes and monkeys: They’re like us, but they’re not us. That’s the fascination. And it’s a great starting point for all kinds of storytelling, be it comic or cautionary. This summer, movies have served up quite a bit of both, offering a barrel full of monkeys that, at the risk of offending Bonzo and Mighty Joe Young, eclipses all previous comers, not to mention the rumbling robots, pirates and wizards currently littering the multiplex. Monkeys and apes are everywhere, from Crystal, the crazy capuchin seen in “The Hangover II” to the bromance between Kevin James and the Nick Nolte-voiced silverback gorilla in “Zookeeper.” Then there’s this story of human hubris: Scientists perform experiments on a young chimp and, afterward, abandon it, leaving the animal caught halfway between man and monkey. It’s the premise of not one, but two summer movies: the upcoming reboot “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and the Sundance Film Festival documentary sensation, “Project Nim,” which chronicles a Columbia University professor’s radical attempt in the 1970s to teach a chimpanzee sign language by raising it as a human child. “They’re science-fiction and we’re science-fact,” says “Project Nim” producer Simon Chinn, whose film is currently
expanding its North American run. “The fascination in our movie comes from watching the similarities between chimps and humans, yes,” Chinn adds. “But if there’s any lesson to take from the film, it’s that, while there may be a lot of overlap, chimps are very distinct and should be left to live among their own kind.” Or risk, in the case of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” a primate rebellion that its makers liken to the classic Roman slave revolt epic “Spartacus.” What separates this “Apes” movie from the 1968 Charlton Heston sci-fi adventure, its sequels and the 2001 Tim Burton remake is both its present-day earth setting and its point of view. “The ape is the star of the film,” says 20th Century Fox chairman Tom Rothman. “The movie starts out relatively conventionally, but, after something unfortunate happens and the ape is put in a ‘sanctuary,’ which to the ape is just jail, the movie stays with the ape. The rest of the movie is his story, told from his perspective.” “The key,” adds “Apes” director Rupert Wyatt, “is in the telling for you to understand whose side we’re on. And it’s not the Romans.” Maybe that’s OK. Humans have a “deep, intrinsic attraction to primates,” says San Diego Zoo animal care manager Greg Vicino, that goes beyond the mutual owning of opposable thumbs. Like people, monkeys and apes (how to tell the difference: most monkeys have tails) maintain intense relationships through sophisticated social behavior. —AP
Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma waves during the ‘Vogue Beauty Awards 2011’ ceremony in Mumbai late July 28, 2011. —AFP