Steve Ditko estate tries to regain Spider-Man, Doctor Strange copyrights

• Published date: 24 September 2021
• Author: AARON REICH
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The notices of copyright termination were filed by Ditko's heir, Patrick Ditko, who is the administrator of his estate. Both notices, as detailed on the website for the US Copyright Office, go back to both characters' first appearances in the pages of Marvel comics. The notice for Doctor Strange can be found here, and the notice for Spider-Man can be found here.

The character Spider-Man is the alias of Peter Parker, a young New York resident who, after being bitten by a radioactive spider, obtained a now-iconic set of superpowers that enabled him to become the wall-crawling web-slinger. First appearing in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962 drawn by Ditko and written by Stan Lee, the character has since spawned a massive media franchise, becoming Marvel's most famous superhero with merchandise sales rivaling Superman and Batman and numerous blockbuster films, TV shows, and video games under his name.

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Doctor Strange also appeared during the silver age, first debuting in Strange Tales #110 in 1963. Made once again by the artist-author duo of Ditko and Lee, the character was a brain surgeon named Stephen Strange who, after injuring his hands beyond repair, takes up magic and soon defends the planet as sorcerer supreme. Though not as popular as Spider-Man, the character has still seen widespread appeal within Marvel Comics and has risen to new prominence following the critically-acclaimed 2016 film Doctor Strange, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

Both characters have been very successful for Marvel, and this copyright termination, if successful, could see them in legal trouble, as the rights to the characters would essentially revert to the estate.

This is accomplished through the use of the Copyright Act of 1976, which has provisions for creators and their heirs to try and regain rights to their works.

And this idea is far from unprecedented. Many creators have successfully tried this in the past, such as the estate of horror movie icon Wes Craven regaining the rights to A Nightmare on Elm Street.

But in the world of comics, this is a bit different.

Creators and their estates have tried on numerous occasions to get the copyrights to their characters back from the publishing companies, specifically against Marvel and DC, whose main brands do not give creators the rights to their characters, compared to other companies like Image...