On Thursday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decided that a lower court was wrong to deny Warner Bros. subsidiary DC Comics' contention that it had a deal in 2001 with the estate of Superman co-creator Jerome Siegel. As a result, a federal judge's 2008 ruling to allow the Siegel estate to recapture Superman rights is about to be wiped out.The decision follows a ruling by a federal judge in October to deny the estate of Superman's other co-creator Joseph Shuster the ability to recapture its own portion of the Superman copyright. That was another win for Warner Bros.Together, the decisions mean that Warners can exploit the Superman franchise without fear of substantial legal hassles from the estates of Shuster and Siegel. That's significant because Warner Bros. is preparing to release this summer's big-budget Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder and produced by Christopher Nolan.
