A lawsuit brought by the estate of Superman co-creator Joseph Schuster which attempted to block the film’s release in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom—thanks to an old law kink that could have prevented James Gunn’s film from opening in any country that was once ruled by the British Crown—will not be moving forward.
Deadline wrote that “citing jurisdictional reach, or lack there of, a federal judge this week TKO’d an ambitious effort launched in January by Mark Warren Peary, executor to the estate of Joe Shuster, to stop the release of the James Gunn-helmed tentpole in parts of what was once the British Empire.”
As previously reported, Warner Bros. Discovery stood against the lawsuit that sought “damages and injunctive relief for Defendants’ ongoing infringement in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, as well as declaratory relief establishing the Shuster Estate’s ownership rights across relevant jurisdictions.”
The official ruling stipulated that the lawsuit was dismissed due to the lack of reach the infringement has under U.S. law—not United Kingdom. “The Court concludes that it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over this case; the case therefore must be and is dismissed,” Deadline quoted from the case’s 13-page court order from Judge Jesse Furhman.
“Accordingly, the Court need not and does not address Defendants’ alternative argument that the case should be transferred to another federal district. Additionally, given the Court’s lack of jurisdiction, Peary’s motion for a preliminary injunction must be and is denied as moot.”
Superman hits theaters July 11.
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