On July 9, 2012, U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson for the Central District of California dismissed a suit brought against Stan Lee and his production companies, which sought various ownership rights and profits stemming from the use of iconic characters such as Spiderman and the X-Men. Marvel Entertainment, Inc. currently owns the rights.
Counsel for Lee claims that the suit was barred under the legal doctrine of res judicata – similar claims had been filed and dismissed in New York federal court back in April of 2010. Counsel for the plaintiffs countered, arguing that they had not had an ample opportunity to present their claims in New York. While Judge Wilson did not explain his decision, a written order is forthcoming.
The dispute over the rights to Lee’s comic book characters stretches all the way back to November of 2002, when SMLI, a now defunct production and marketing company, claimed that Lee assigned these rights to SMLI before he signed his current deal with Marvel. SMLI believed that Lee and the former president of Marvel Studios Avi Arad had wrongfully collaborated to conceal and then wrongfully appropriate these interests.
Judge dismisses another Stan Lee Media lawsuit against namesake