my sense is that the copyright claim gambit was merely the first step toward the current path forward--a suit against Marvel to prompt some form of profit sharing, etc based on the work Kirby did for them in the sixties.

It the Kirby Estate succeeds, they will become a co-owner of the copyrights with Marvel and have the right to a cut of Marvel's publication profits and the right to utilize or license the characters without Marvel's approvals, provided they give Marvel a cut of the profit.  They won't get Editorial power over Marvel's publications.  And they are NOT making a claim on Marvel's trademarks.  Would the trademarks preclude them from exploiting the characters?  I would think not.  And that's a big stick to use against Marvel.  But obviously, the trademarks are a stick for Marvel that are an incentive to cut a deal with Marvel. 

As I said elsewhere, my guess would be that the Kirby Estate doesn't really want to exploit or license the characters and create competing comics for Marvel product.  Instead, I'm guessing they'd be happy to negotiate profit sharing with Marvel and assign back to Marvel their exploitation and licensing rights.  But that's just a guess. 

Last Edited By: sfcityduck Mar 22 10 2:16 PM. Edited 1 times.