Superhero factory Marvel asked a federal court on Friday to block artists behind iconic figures such as Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, and those artists' heirs, from wresting away control of those valuable rights.
The federal civil suits from Marvel Characters Inc., filed in the Southern District of New York, claim the work of several artists and authors belong to the company and not to those original creators or their heirs.
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Those artists, or their descendants, had previously filed action with the U.S. Copyright Office seeking termination notices to end Marvel's control over their characters.