Watch: Jeff McFarland on Marvel’s superhero legal battle

Following a wave of lawsuits from ex-Marvel writers and artists attempting to win back copyrights of some of the company’s flagship characters,  Disney retaliated with suits of its own in September, asking courts to invalidate their termination notices.

Central to the dispute is the termination provisions of the Copyright Act, which states that an artist can terminate a copyright assignment after 35 years by giving a two-year notice. The artist’s termination notices seek to claim back characters and elements of the story that are now central to Marvel’s cinematic media empire.

WIPR asked Jeff McFarland, principle at McKool Smith, to tell us about the dispute, whether the artists have a chance of succeeding, and the potential knock-on effect for other characters in the Marvel universe.