Back in the 1938, Superman creator Jerry Siegel sold the rights to Superman to DC for $130.

In 1976, new copyright laws were established thaat gave authors and their heirs, “a chance to retain the extended renewal term in their work and then re bargain for it when its value in the marketplace was known.” (Opinion, p. 62.) In passing the Act, Congress’ intent (quoted by Judge Larson) was to address the “unequal bargaining position of authors, resulting in part from the impossibility of determining a work’s prior value until it has been exploited.”

In 1997, The Siegel heirs, notably, Jerry’s wife and daughter, entered into a lawsuit against DC to strike the original 1938 assignment of rights, a 1948 stipulation which concerned subsequent litigation, and the 1975 agreement in which DC agreed to pay pensions to the two creators. Over ten years later, the first major decision of that ongoing case has been made.

According to the courts, the Siegels now have an equal ownership and copyrights with DC over the material presented in Action Comics #1, which was Superman’s first appearance. So what does that mean? Firstly– an appeal from AOL/Time Warner. Barring that, the conglomerate will owe the Sielgels a considerably ginormous payout on profits generated by Superman as a franchise (be it comics, screen, print, merchandising, etc.)

The Siegels have a second ongoing lawsuit with DC over the ownership of Superboy, who they claim was a different character than Superman, and therefor not covered in the original Superman acquisition.

Who do you think owns Superman? Drop in HERE to weigh in.

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