It's been a while since we've heard the chilling phrase, "Stan Lee Media." That was a dot-com company that was briefly a shining star of the Internet. It was said to be worth zillions even though during the brief time that I was a vice-president of the firm, no one there could explain to me just what it did that made money. Not long after I departed — no connection implied — the whole thing crashed and burned and people were convicted of various crimes that fell under the general category of Stock Fraud.
Well, Stan Lee Media is back in the news, at least for a day. It's been announced that the current owners are suing Marvel Entertainment for five billion smackers. Here's a story with more of the details. Basically, they're saying that Stan Lee assigned certain proprietary rights to Stan Lee Media and that despite the company's bankruptcy, it still exists and still owns those rights and that the stockholders are entitled to profit from them. They're further asserting that it all amounts to half-ownership of Spider-Man, The X-Men, Hulk and such.
I have no more information on this apart from what's on the Internet this morning and I ain't a lawyer. Those caveats noted, this sounds to me like a lawsuit of the kind that gets filed to try and panic someone into a quick settlement. There are legal actions of the sort that work because the company being sued is afraid that the lawsuit will interfere with their commerce and it's easier to pay off than to allow that to happen. I doubt that will be the case here but that's a view from afar since I haven't read the contracts.
Still, it sounds like a tough case to win. Stan Lee says he never had half-ownership of those characters. Stan Lee Media is saying he assigned half-ownership of those characters to Stan Lee Media. That's quite a speed bump. Moreover, though the current owners of Stan Lee Media are apparently all honest souls, they're trying to enforce a contract negotiated by a regime that has copped to various frauds and misrepresentations. It might be a little dicey to argue that it was all done in good faith and that it means what all those folks who went to prison might say it means. Are they going to be called in to testify on the intention of that deal and if so, who's going to believe them?
But hey, weird things sometimes happen in courtrooms. I can't recall the last time I heard someone say that the law always comes to the logical conclusion. It may have been O.J. Simpson after his first murder trial. If the Stan Lee Media people can get that jury, they might have a shot.