Warner Bros fends off Superman copyright lawsuit ahead of new movie

By Blake Brittain

April 25 (Reuters) - Warner Bros. Discovery WBD.O convinced a U.S. judge to dismiss a lawsuit over rights to the iconic character Superman, lifting a legal headache before the company releases its new "Superman" movie this summer.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in New York said on Thursday that his court lacked jurisdiction over the copyright claims brought by the estate of Superman's co-creator, the illustrator Joseph Shuster. The lawsuit had sought damages for the unauthorized use of Superman in the U.K., Canada, Australia and other countries.

The estate's attorney and an attorney and spokespeople for Warner did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday. The lawsuit is part of a long-running legal battle over the rights to Superman.

Shuster created Superman with writer Jerome Siegel and licensed the character to Detective Comics, the predecessor of Warner subsidiary DC Comics. Shuster's estate's lawsuit, filed in January, said that the rights to Superman reverted to the estate under British law in 2017, 25 years after his death.

The estate accused Warner of failing to pay royalties to use Superman in countries that follow U.K. law on copyright reversion, which also include India, Israel and Ireland.

Furman agreed with Warner on Thursday that the case should be dismissed because it was "brought explicitly under the laws of foreign countries, not the laws of the United States."

Warner's new Superman movie, directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet, is scheduled to be released in July.