National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications, 191 F.2d 594 (2d Cir. 1951), clarified 198 F.2d 927 (2d Cir. 1952), was a twelve-year legal battle between DC Comics (then known as National Comics) and the Fawcett Comics division of Fawcett Publications, concerning Fawcett's Captain Marvel character being an infringement on the copyright of DC's Superman comic book character. It is notable as one of the longest running legal battles in comic book publication history. Billings Learned Hand (January 27, 1872 – August 14, 1961) — usually called just Learned Hand — was a famed American judge and an avid supporter of free speech. ... Court citation is a standard system used in common law countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia to uniquely identify the location of past court cases in special series of books called reporters. ... The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States District Courts: District of Connecticut Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of New York District of Vermont The Second Circuit hears argument at the Thurgood Marshall U.S... 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... Court citation is a standard system used in common law countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia to uniquely identify the location of past court cases in special series of books called reporters. ... 1952 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The current DC Comics logo, adopted in May 2005. ... Whiz Comics #2, the first appearance of Captain Marvel, the companys most popular character. ... Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company launched in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota by Wilford H. Captain Billy Fawcett (1883-1940). ... Shazam! redirects here. ... Copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of copyrighted material in a manner that violates one of the copyright owners exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works that build upon it. ... Superman, nicknamed The Man of Steel, is a fictional character and superhero who first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938 and eventually became one of the most popular and well-known comic book icons of all time. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ...

The suit resulted in the dissolution of Fawcett Comics and the cancellation of all of its superhero-related publications, including those featuring Captain Marvel and his related characters. DC later acquired the rights to Captain Marvel in the 1970s, which they hold to this day. This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ...

History

Pre-trial

Captain Marvel was not the first superhero comic book character, or even the first Fawcett superhero character, to be the subject of a DC copyright in fringment lawsuit. In 1939, DC had filed suit against Fox Features Syndicate for their Superman-like hero Wonder Man, and filed against Fawcett the following year for their Master Man character. In the case of Master Man, Fawcett simply did as Fox Features had done: they ceased publication of the character and replaced his feature in their Master Comics periodical with a new strip (Bulletman). Superman (left) and Batman, two of the most recognizable and influential superheroes. ... 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Fox Features Syndicate, also known as Fox Comics and Fox Publications, was a golden age comic book publisher started in 1939 by accountant-turned-entrepreneur Victor Fox. ... This article is on the Marvel Comics character. ... Master Man was a Fawcett Comics superhero, created in 1940, most feel, as something of a clone of the original Captain Marvel and Superman. ... Bulletman was a Fawcett Comics superhero created by Bill Parker in Nickel Comics, May, 1940. ...

However, after recieving a cease and decist letter from DC in June 1941 ^[1], Fawcett decided to fight DC's allegations that Captain Marvel, the star character of their Whiz Comics periodical, was a plagiarism of Superman. Captain Marvel had proven to be very successful for the company, and had, within two years of his existance, become its flagship comic book character and been the first superhero to be adapted into film. In fact, by the mid-1940s, Captain Marvel had become the most popular superhero in the country, his Captain Marvel Adventures was the nation's highest circulated comic book magazine (selling 1.4 million copies an issue), and Fawcerr had created an entire family of spin-off characters: Captain Marvel, Jr., Mary Marvel, Uncle Marvel, and even Hoppy the Marvel Bunny. While its lawsuit against Fawcett was still pending, DC incorporated a few of the elements unique to the Captain Marvel strip into their Superman comics, including making Superman's arch-villian Lex Luthor a bald "mad scientist" like Captain Marvel's Dr. Sivana, and introducing the adventures of Superman as a teenager under the title Superboy, after Captain Marvel's teenaged sidekick Captain Marel, Jr. proved to be popular. June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four with the length of 30 days. ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Whiz Comics was a monthly ongoing comic book anthology series, which was published by Fawcett Comics from February 1940 to June 1952. ... The Adventures of Captain Marvel is an acclaimed film serial directed by John English and William Witney for Republic Pictures in 1941. ... // Events and trends The 1940s were dominated by World War II, the most destructive armed conflict in history. ... The Marvel Family is a group of fictional characters, a team of superheroes in the Fawcett Comics and DC Comics universes. ... Captain Marvel, Jr. ... Mary Marvel is a fictional character, a superhero derived from the DC Comics (formerly Fawcett Comics) character Captain Marvel. ... Uncle Marvel is a fictional character derived from the DC Comics (formerly Fawcett Comics) character Captain Marvel. ... Hoppy the Marvel Bunny is a comic book superhero, an anthropomorphic pink rabbit. ... Lex Luthor is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain and archenemy of Superman. ... Doctor Thaddeus Bodog Sivana is a is a Fawcett Comics and DC Comics supervillain, the archenemy of Captain Marvel. ... Superboy is the name of two fictional characters published by DC Comics. ...

Initial hearing

DC filed the National v. Fawcett lawsuit in September of 1941 ^[2]. The lawsuit between DC and Fawcett spent seven years in litigation before trials finally began in 1948. DC's argument was that Captain Marvel's main powers and characteristics (super-strength, super-speed, invulerability, a spandex costume with a cape, and a news reporter alter ego) were derived directly from those of Superman. Fawcett's cunterargument was that although the two character s were indeed similar, and Superman's publication debut predated Captain Marvel's by eighteen months, the differences in essential plot and concept elements (Captai Marel's alter-ego was a child not an adult, his powers were magic-based, not science based) mean that Captain Marvel was not a plagiarism, but a property in its own right. September is the ninth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four Gregorian months with the length of 30 days. ... 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The initial hearing was issued in Fawcett's favor, because of information Fawcett's lawyers had uncovered about Superman's copyright status. The defense lawyers had provided evidence that DC and the McClure Syndicate were negligent in copyrighting several of their Superman newspaper comic strips, and the judge decided that DC had abandoned its Superman copyright and that it was no longer valid. The judge did find, however, that Captain Marvel was an infringment of Superman ^[3] . This article is about the comic strip, the sequential art form as published in newspapers and on the Internet. ...

Appeal

DC appealed the decision in 1951 in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, with Judge Learned Hand presiding. Judge Hand 1952 ruling reversed the original decision and was made in DC's favor. DC's Superman copyright was found to stil be valid, and maintained that Captain Marvel was an infringment of that copyright ^[4]. The case was then sent back to trials court for damage assessment. Fawcett decided at this time to settle with DC out of court instead of re-appealing. Superhero comics sales had decreased ramatically during the early 1950s, and Fawcett decided that it was not worth it to continue fighting DC ^[5]. DC agreed to settle with Fawcett out of court, and Fawcett paid DC $400,000 in damages and agreed to cease publication of all Captain Marvel related comics ^[6]. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States District Courts: District of Connecticut Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Districts of New York District of Vermont The Second Circuit hears argument at the Thurgood Marshall U.S... Billings Learned Hand (January 27, 1872 – August 14, 1961) — usually called just Learned Hand — was a famed American judge and an avid supporter of free speech. ... // Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the height of the baby-boom from returning...

The company ended up cancelling all of its superhero comics, selling the reprint rights for Hoppy the Marvel Bunny to Charlton Comics, who re-lettered the artwork to identify the strip as Hoppy the Magic Bunny. The entire creative staff of the comic book division was laid off, including noted comic book creators such as C.C. Beck and Otto Binder, and the Fawcett Comics division was shut down. L. Miller and Son, a small British pubisher of black-and-white Captain Marvel reprints, adapted Captain Marvel into a derivative superhero, Marvelman, instead of folding their comic book business. Charlton Comics was a minor comic book publishing house that existed from 1946 to 1986. ... Clarence Charles Beck, (July 9, 1910_November 22, 1989), was an American cartoonist. ... Otto Binder (August 26, 1911 - October 14, 1974) was an American science fiction author and comic book writer. ... Miracleman (originally Marvelman) was a British-authored superhero comic, first published on February 3, 1954. ...

Results of the lawsuit

National v. Fawcett remains a often-referenced case when dealing with copyright law and plagiarism cases becasue of its findings.

Captain Marvel remained out of print for the rest of the 1950s and the entirity of the 1960s, a period during which superhero comics regained their popularity. DC liscenced the rights to all of Fawcett's superheroes in 1972, and revived Captain Marvel in a periodical entitled Shazam!. They also obtaiend reprint rights to the original Fawcett comic books, and began issuing collected editions. In 1980, DC bought the rights to the Fawcett characters outright, and by 1987 had integrated them into their "DC Universe" of comic-book characters. Captain Marvel has not proven to be a modern-day success for DC to the degree it had been for Fawcett. As a recurring inside-joke to the long-standing lawsuit they filed against Fawcett, DC often writes Captain Marvel and Superman as battling opponents, most notably in Mark Waid and Alex Ross' popular miniseries Kingdom Come. // Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the height of the baby-boom from returning... The 1960s, or The Sixties, in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... For the Marvel Comics character, see Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics). ... 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared setting where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. ... Mark Waid is an American comic book writer. ... Rosss rendition of the Golden Age Batman and Robin. ... Kingdom Come is a comic book miniseries published by DC Comics, written by Mark Waid and painted by Alex Ross. ...

Notes

1. ^  Hughes, Bob. DC Timeline. Retrieved on August 9, 2005.
2. ^  Ibid.
3. Ingersoll, Bob (May 31, 1985). "The Law is a Ass" Installment # 66. Comics Buyer's Guide issue # 602. Retrieved from http://www.worldfamouscomics.com/law/back20001024.shtml on June 19, 2005. Detailed summary of the cases and rulings related to National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publishing.
4. ^  Ibid.
5. ^  Gore, Matthew H. The Origins of Marvelman. Retrieved June 17, 2005. Excerpt: "With avenues of appeal still open but their outcome obvious after the first court ruled for National Periodicals, Fawcett Publications settled out of court in late-1953. Fawcett agreed to cease publication of all Captain Marvel related titles. However, Fawcett's decision to give up the legal battle came when all of the company's superhero titles were reporting greatly diminished sales was no circumstance."
6. ^  "The World's Mighiest Mortal & Big Red Cheese". The Museum of Comic Book Advertising. Retrieved June 17, 2005. Excerpt: "In 1953, the case was finally settled out of court when Fawcett agreed to quit using the Captain Marvel character(s) and pay DC the sum of $400,000."