Spider-Man’s Legal Tangles

A trial has been scheduled for next week in the eight-year battle over the rights to make a live-action film based on the Marvel comic book character Spider-Man. However, a judge already has rejected the strongest claims, which belonged to MGM.

In a ruling this week, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz found that MGM’s ownership of the movie rights, which the studio said it acquired from Israeli-born mogul Menahem Golan, had been legally voided in the course of Marvel Entertainment Group’s recent bankruptcy.

MGM has indicated that it may appeal the ruling and has asked Munoz to reconsider.

Munoz earlier rejected MGM’s claim to the rights from another source.

Marvel created the character in 1962 and subsequently licensed the live-action movie rights three times to studios that all failed to get a film made. The licensing deals later became entangled in a welter of lawsuits and the bankruptcies of Marvel and two of the movie studios.

Two major issues remain to be litigated in the trial set to begin Tuesday, according to attorneys for Marvel. One is Marvel’s claim against MGM for tens of millions of dollars in attorneys’ fees and lost potential profits from merchandising and other movie tie-ins. The other is Viacom Inc.’s claim, which Marvel contests, to home-video distribution rights to any live-action Spider-Man movie ultimately released.