The copyrights for Superman, Batman, and other DC characters are set to expire in the mid-2030s, allowing artists and rival studios to create their own versions without permission. DC has been preparing for this by introducing new characters and updating existing ones to maintain protection. While unauthorized comics and movies are expected, trademarking terms and logos will limit what subsequent creators can do. Despite the potential for a flood of off-brand superhero content, the execution and quality of these new iterations will ultimately determine their success.
In about a decade, the copyrights for Superman, Batman, and other DC characters will expire, allowing artists and rival studios to create their own versions without permission. DC has been preparing for this by updating the characters and trademarking certain terms and symbols. Experts anticipate a flood of unauthorized comics and movies featuring these characters, but DC's efforts to maintain quality control and trademarks may limit what subsequent creators can do. Despite the potential for a surge in off-brand superhero content, the impact of the copyright expiration remains to be seen.
The Authors Guild, a trade group for U.S. authors, has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against OpenAI on behalf of prominent writers including John Grisham, George R.R. Martin, and Jodi Picoult, accusing the company of unlawfully training its AI chatbot, ChatGPT, on their work. The lawsuit claims that OpenAI scraped text from the authors' books, potentially from illegal online "pirate" book repositories, to train its language model. OpenAI and other AI defendants argue that their use of training data qualifies as fair use under U.S. copyright law. The Authors Guild asserts that authors should have control over how their works are used by generative AI to preserve literature and prevent the displacement of human-authored books. Similar lawsuits are pending against Meta Platforms and Stability AI.
A U.S. court in Washington, D.C., has ruled that artworks created solely by artificial intelligence (AI) without any human input cannot be copyrighted under U.S. law. The court affirmed the Copyright Office's rejection of an application filed by computer scientist Stephen Thaler on behalf of his AI system, DABUS. The decision follows previous losses for Thaler in his bids for U.S. patents covering inventions created by DABUS. Thaler's attorney plans to appeal the decision, while the Copyright Office believes the court reached the correct result. The case highlights the emerging challenges in copyright law as artists incorporate AI into their creative process.
Marvel has settled disputes over copyrights in comics created by several writers and artists, including Gene Colan, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, and Don Rico, but the fight with Steve Ditko's estate continues. Marvel filed a series of lawsuits in response to copyright termination notices from Larry Lieber and the estates of Gene Colan, Steve Ditko, Don Heck, and Don Rico. The fight is over the rights to titles including The Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man, and more. Marvel has reached deals that resolve four of the fights, but the fate of Amazing Fantasy and Strange Tales is still to be determined.
