When last we met, the Superman legacy was the subject of an epic struggle between good and evil ... Wait, no. Apologies. We got caught up in the spirit of the comic. We've been talking about a court battle between Warner Bros. and the estates of Superman's creators, Joel Shuster and Jerry Siegel.

The core issue is the copyrights that Warner's has and that the heirs want back. In the most recent lawsuit, the studio found out about documents in possession of Siegel's estate that the studio claims contain, among other things, vital information about how the rights were to be shared between the estates and about how the estates would not sell copyrights to anyone in the future, including Warner's.

Warner's made a clever argument. They claimed the agreements should be handed over because they illegally directed third parties not to traffic in their future interests -- future interests they didn't yet control. The copyrights.

The judge disagreed. In his decision he said that he could not allow access to the documents just in case the studio was right about their contents. One motion down, many, many more to go.

Again, we're interested in this case for a couple of reasons. First, the roles of the heirs and future interests are always fun for probate types. Second, we clearly have a penchant for stories about artists' legacies. The Superman creators, like Bo Diddley, had handed off the rights not only to their biggest money-maker, but also to the body of work they'd be remembered for. The gift isn't just the cash. It's knowing that your heirs will cherish and safeguard the part of you that goes into your work.

Source: Reuters, "Warner Bros. loses again in 'Superman' litigation," Eriq Gardner, 04/13/11