A recent Supreme Court decision reinstating a copyright lawsuit over the movie Raging Bull now has another side effect: it opened the door to IP challenges involving the comic book character Spider-Man and Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven."
In the Raging Bull case, the justices ruled on May 19 that a nuanced concept called "laches" does not automatically apply to copyright litigation. ("Laches" means an unusual delay that prejudices the opposing side. Or, you "slept on your rights.") A federal appeals court previously ruled that Paula Petrella waited too long, nearly two decades, before suing over the movie rights to her deceased father's boxing screenplay. The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals initially dismissed the suit as untimely.
But in reinstating the case against MGM Holdings, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg ruled that laches does not preclude a lawsuit. Rights owners, Ginsberg wrote for the 6-3 majority, "can defer suit" (PDF) until they can "estimate whether litigation is worth the candle." Petrella sued in 2009, and the high court's ruling allows damages claims, if proven, dating to 2006 under a three-year statute of limitations.
Spider-Man legal web
Stan Lee Media is the company Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee walked away from after it went bankrupt in 2000. The company now claims that the Petrella decision gives new life to the company's nonstop litigation claims that its assets were wrongly taken during the bankruptcy.
Stan Lee Media claims Petrella helps them because, in short, a New York judge ruled in 2010 that a claim by Stan Lee Media trying to regain Spider-Man was time barred.
"... The Supreme Court ruled that a copyright claim seeking relief based on conduct taking place within three years before a lawsuit is filed is not the 'same' as an older copyright claim seeking relief based on older conduct taking place more than three years ago," Michael Volk, Stan Lee Media's general counsel, told The Hollywood Reporter. Disney now controls Spider-Man and many other Marvel Entertainment characters, and the company said the high court's ruling has "no bearing" on the flap.
Stan Lee Media is trying to revisit the ownership dispute in a strange case in which a Pennsylvania theater company made a deal with Stan Lee Media to use the Spider-Man rights, a deal which Disney has asked the courts to block.
Buying a “Stairway to Heaven”
Perhaps the best eight minutes of rock and roll of all time, the song "Stairway to Heaven," written by Jimmy Page, is also in the copyright crosshairs thanks to the Petrella decision.
A band called Spirit alleges that the classic opening minute to the 1971 song is a ripoff of Spirit's 1968 song called "Taurus," written by guitarist Randy California.
"Stairway to Heaven" appears on the album Led Zeppelin IV, which is set for a June reissue. California's lawyers said they intend to try to block the release via a copyright suit. In 1997, California told Listener magazine that he thought the song "was a ripoff" of his song. California died later that year.
Spirit attorney Francis Malofiy said the band waited so long to file suit because it did not have money to pay for an attorney.
"The idea behind this is to make sure that Randy California is given a writing credit on 'Stairway to Heaven.' It's been a long time coming," Malofiy told BloombergBusinessweek.
Unless there's a settlement, a jury would be left to conclude whether there's infringement. You decide.
Listing image by Levi Espino/Flickr
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