I wrote an article a couple of years ago about who owned Superman for Comics Now Magazine #2 Called Man and Superman.  To sum it up, DC Comics purchased the rights to Superman (and later Superboy) for a little over a hundred bucks from Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.  As you know, Superman became a sensation in comics, film, television, radio, and video games.  And while Jerry and Joe did well for themselves as employees of DC in the early years as employees of DC, the company never paid them royalties for the creation of the Superman character.  Over the years, Jerry sued DC to try to get his creations back.  He lost in New York state court in 1947.  Changes in copyright law allowed him to sue in federal court in 1969, where he lost again.  Finally, after being pressured by the comic’s community (and to avoid bad publicity on the Superman movie) DC agreed to give Jerry (who was working as a mail carrier) and Joe (who was legally blind and living in a trailer park) a modest pension.  The copyright law was changed again and, after their death of Jerry, his heirs (coincidentally the model for Lois Lane) sued to recover ownership of the Characters in the United States District Court for the Central District of California in 2004 and the case was assigned to Judge Ronald S.W. Lew.  On a Motion for Summary Judgment, Judge Lew awarded partial rights to Superboy (including Smallville) to the Siegel heirs.  Then the case was transferred to Judge Stephen Larson. Judge Larson reversed the Superboy decision on a Motion for Reconsideration.  However, then Judge Larson issued an order in the Superman companion case awarding partial rights in Superman to the Siegel heirs.  The parties have been in settlement negotiation and preparing for trial on the remaining rights. 

This Wednesday, Judge Stephen Larson determined that the Siegels control the rights to the early comic strips and stories that show Superman’s early history (Krypton, Zor-El and Lara, baby Kal-El and the origin storyline.)  I’m not sure how this will affect the Smallville aspect to the case.  This means that DC will have to seek permission to use these elements in their publications (and movies).  I should also not that the Court has previously ruled that all the remaining rights will transfer back to Joe’s heirs in 2013.  DC still owns a lot of the later elements of the Superman universe, including Lex Luthor, most of his powers like flight, super breath, x-ray vision, etc. (when Supes first came on the scene he was a glorified strongman), the term kryptonite, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, The Daily Planet and others. 

Does this mean DC will no longer produce Superman?  I doubt it.  Superman merchandising is a gold mine and everyone knows DC dug the mine.  Most likely, a settlement will be reached whereby DC will pay to license the character from the heirs.  At least until Superman enters public domain in 2033 (in his original form).

Here is the link to the Variety article that broke the story.