Full opinion text
ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT; ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT STEPHEN G. LARSON, District Judge. The termination provisions contained in the Copyright Act of 1976 have aptly been characterized as formalistic and complex, such that authors, or their heirs, successfully terminating the grant to the copyright in their original work of authorship is a feat accomplished “against all odds.” 2 WILLIAM F. PATRY, PaTRY ON COPYRIGHT § 7:52 (2007). In the present case, Joanne Siegel and Laura Siegel Larson, the widow and the daughter of Jerome Siegel, seek a declaration from the Court that they have overcome these odds and have successfully terminated the 1938 grant by Jerome Siegel and his creative partner, Joseph Shuster, of the copyright in their creation of the iconic comic book superhero “Superman,” thereby recapturing Jerome Siegel’s half of the copyright in the same. No small feat indeed. It requires traversing the many impediments — many requiring a detailed historical understanding both factually and legally of the events that occurred between the parties over the past seventy years — to achieving that goal and, just as importantly, reckoning with the limits of what can be gained through the termination of that grant. Any discussion about the termination of the initial grant to the copyright in a work begins, as the Court does here, with the story of the creation of the work itself. In 1932, Jerome Siegel and Joseph Shuster were teenagers at Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio. Siegel was an aspiring writer and Shuster an aspiring artist; what Siegel later did with his typewriter and Shuster with his pen would transform the comic book industry. The two met while working on their high school’s newspaper where they discovered their shared passion for science fiction and comics, the beginning of a remarkable and fruitful relationship. One of their first collaborations was publishing a mail-order fanzine titled “Science Fiction: The Advance Guard of Future Civilization.” In the January, 1933, issue, Siegel and Shuster’s first superman character appeared in the short story “The Reign of the Superman,” but in the form of a villain not a hero. The story told of a “mad scientist’s experiment with a deprived man from the breadlines” that transformed “the man into a mental giant who then uses his new powers — the ability to read and control minds — to steal a fortune and attempt to dominate the world.” (Deck Michael Bergman, Ex. HH at 1126). This initial superman character in villain trappings was drawn by Shuster as a bald-headed mad man. A couple of months later it occurred to Siegel that re-writing the character as a hero, bearing little resemblance to his villainous namesake, “might make a great comic strip character.” (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. HH at 1126). Much of Siegel’s desire to shift the role of his protagonist from villain to hero arose from Siegel’s exposure to despair and hope: Despair created by the dark days of the Depression and hope through exposure to the “gallant, crusading heros” in popular literature and the movies. (Deck Michael Bergman, Ex. HH at 1126). The theme of hope amidst despair struck the young Siegel as an apt subject for his comic strip: “Superman was the answer — Superman aiding the downtrodden and oppressed.” (Deck Michael Bergman, Ex. HH at 1126). Thereafter, Siegel sat down to create a comic book version of his new character. While he labored over the script, Shuster began the task of drawing the panels visualizing that script. Titling it “The Superman,” “[t]heir first rendition of the man of steel was a hulking strongman who wore a T-shirt and pants rather than a cape and tights.” (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. HH at 1129). And he was not yet able to hurdle skyscrapers, nor was he from a far away planet; instead, he was simply a strong (but not extraordinarily so) human, in the mold of Flash Gordon or Tarzan, who combated crime. Siegel and Shuster sent their material to a publisher of comic books — Detective Dan — and were informed that it had been accepted for publication. Their success, however, was short-lived; the publisher later rescinded its offer to publish their submission. Crestfallen, Shuster threw into the fireplace all the art for the story except the cover (reproduced below), which Siegel rescued from the flames. Undaunted, Siegel continued to tinker with his character, but decided to try a different publication format, a newspaper comic strip. The choice of crafting the material in a newspaper comic strip format was influenced both by the failure to get their earlier incarnation of the Superman character published by Detective Dan in a comic book format, and by the fact that, at the time, black-and-white newspaper comic strips' — not comic books — -were the most popular medium for comics. As one observer of the period has commented: It is worth noting the extent to which early comic books were conjoined with newspaper strips of the day. The earliest comic books consisted of reprints of those newspaper strips, re-pasted into a comic book page format. When original material began appearing in comic book format, it was generally because companies that wished to publish comic books were unable to procure reprint rights to existing newspaper strips. The solution to this ... was to hire young [comic strip artists] to simulate the same kind of newspaper strip material. (Decl. Mark Evanier, Ex. A at 5-6). On a hot summer night in 1934, Siegel, unable to sleep, began brainstorming over plot ideas for this new feature when an idea struck him: “I was up late counting sheep and more and more ideas kept coming to me, and I wrote out several weeks of syndicate script for the proposed newspaper strip. When morning came, I dashed over to Joe [Shuster]’s place and showed it to him.” (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. HH at 1129). Siegel re-envisioned his character in more of the mythic hero tradition of Hercules, righting wrongs in present-day society. His inspiration was to couple an exaggeration of the daring on-screen acrobatics performed by such actors as Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., with a pseudo-scientific explanation to make such fantastic abilities more plausible in the vein of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars stories, and placing all of this within a storyline that was the reverse of the formula used in the Flash Gordon serials. The end product was of a character who is sent as an infant to Earth aboard a space ship from an unnamed distant planet (that had been destroyed by old age) who, upon becoming an adult, uses his superhuman powers (gained from the fact that his alien heritage made him millions of years more evolved than ordinary humans) to perform daring feats for the public good. Siegel named his character “Superman.” Unlike his previous incarnation, Siegel’s new Superman character’s powers and abilities were much more extraordinary and fantastic: Superhuman strength; the ability to leap l/8th of a mile, hurdle a twenty-story building, and run faster than an express train; and nothing less than a bursting shell could penetrate his skin. Siegel placed his character in a very cosmopolitan environment that had the look and feel of mid-thirties America. He also humanized his character by giving his superhero an “ordinary person” alter ego: Mild-mannered, big-city newspaper reporter Clark Kent. Siegel developed this concept of Superman’s secret identity both as a means for his superhero to maintain an inconspicuous position in everyday society and as a literary device to introduce a conflict' — and the potential for story lines centered around that conflict — between the character’s dual identities, a conflict played out no more dramatically than in the love “triangle” between the character’s dual identities and another newspaper reporter, Lois Lane. Shuster immediately turned his attention to giving life and color to Siegel’s idea by drawing illustrations for the story. Shuster conceived of the costume for Sie-gel’s Superman superhero — a cape and tight-fitting leotard with briefs, an “S” emblazoned on an inverted triangular crest on his chest, and boots as footwear. In contrast, he costumed Clark Kent in a nondescript suit, wearing black-rimmed glasses, combed black hair, and sporting a fedora. He drew Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent with chiseled features, gave him a hairstyle with a distinctive curl over his forehead, and endowed him with a lean, muscular physique. Clark Kent hid most of these physical attributes behind his wardrobe, which he could quickly doff revealing his Superman costume underneath when he was called to action by someone in need of his superpowers. One of the earliest of Shuster’s sketches of Superman and Clark Kent from this 1934 or 1935 period are depicted below: The two then set about combining Sie-gel’s literary material with Shuster’s graphical representations. Together they crafted a comic strip consisting of several weeks’ worth of material suitable for newspaper syndication. Siegel typed the dialogue and Shuster penciled in artwork, resulting in four weeks of Superman comic strips intended for newspapers. (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. H at 1). The art work for the first week’s worth “of daily [comic] strips was completely inked” and thus ready for publication. (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. H at 1). The “three additional weeks of ‘Superman’ newspaper comic strip material” differed from the first week’s material “only in that the art work, dialogue and the balloons in which the dialogue appeared had not been inked,” instead consisting of no more than black-and-white pencil drawings. (Decl. Michael Bergman, Exs. G at 2 & H at 1-2). Siegel also wrote material to which Shuster provided no illustrations: A paragraph previewing future Superman exploits, and a nine-page synopsis of the storyline appearing in the three weeks of penciled daily Superman newspaper comic strips. (Decl. James Steranko, Ex. A at 4; Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. H at 2). The two shopped the character for a number of years to numerous publishers but were unsuccessful. As Siegel later recalled: One publisher “expressed interest in Superman,” but preferred that it be “published in comic book form where it would be seen in color” rather than “a black-and-white daily strip,” a suggestion to which he and Shuster balked given their earlier experience with the comic book publisher of Detective Dan. (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. H at 2). In the meantime, Siegel and Shuster penned other comic strips, most notably “Slam Bradley” and “The Spy,” that were sold to Nicholson Publishing Company. When Nicholson folded shop in 1937, Detective Comics acquired some of its comic strip properties, including “Slam Bradley” and “The Spy.” On December 4, 1937, Siegel and Shus-ter entered into an agreement with Detective Comics whereby they agreed to furnish some of these existing comic strips for the next two years, and further agreed “that all of these products and work done by [them] for [Detective Comics] during said period of employment shall be and become the sole and exclusive property of [Detective Comics,] and [that Detective Comics] shall be deemed the sole creator thereof .... ” (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. A). The agreement further provided that any new or additional features by Siegel and Shuster were to be submitted first to Detective Comics, who was given a sixty-day option to publish the material. Soon thereafter Detective Comics decided to issue a new comic book magazine titled Action Comics and began seeking new material. Inquiry was made of many newspaper comic strip publishers, including McClure Newspaper Syndicate. Amongst the material submitted by McClure to Detective Comics was the previously rejected Siegel and Shuster Superman comic strip. Detective Comics soon became interested in publishing Siegel and Shuster’s now well-traveled Superman material, but in an expanded thirteen-page comic book format, for release in its first volume of Action Comics. On February 1, 1938, Detective Comics returned the existing Superman newspaper comic strip material to Siegel and Shuster for revision and expansion into a full-length, thirteen-page comic book production. Detective Comics’ desire to place Superman in a comic book required that Siegel and Shuster reformat their existing Superman newspaper material by re-cutting the strip into separate panels and then re-pasting it into a comic book format. An issue emerged due to Detective Comics’ additional requirement that there be eight panels per page in the comic book. Siegel and Shuster’s existing Superman newspaper material did not have enough drawings to meet this format. In response, portions of the thirteen-page comic went forward with fewer than eight panels per page, and in the remaining pages Shuster either trimmed or split existing panels to stay within the page size, or drew additional panels from the existing dialogue to meet the eight-panel requirement. As Shuster later recounted: The only thing I had to do to prepare Superman for comic book publication was to ink the last three weeks of daily strips which I had previously completely penciled in detail. In addition, I inked the lettering and the dialogue and story continuity and inked in the balloons containing the dialogue. Certain panels I trimmed to conform to Detective’s page size. I drew several additional pictures to illustrate the story continuity and these appear on page 1 of the first Superman release. This was done so that we would be certain of having a sufficient number of panels to make a thirteen page release. Finally, I drew the last panel appearing on the thirteenth page. Detective’s only concern was that there would be panels sufficient for thirteen complete pages. Jerry told me that Detective preferred having eight panels per page but in our judgment this would hurt the property. I specifically refer to the very large panel appearing on what would be page 9 of the thirteen page release. We did not want to alter this because of its dramatic effect. Accordingly, on this page but six panels appeared. (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. G at 2). Sie-gel similarly recollected: Upon receiving word from Detective that we could proceed, Joe Shuster, under my supervision, inked the illustrations, lettering and dialogue balloons in the three weeks of daily strips that had been previously penciled. In addition, he trimmed certain pictures to meet Detective’s panel specifications and extended others. To assure ourselves of having the proper number of panels we added several pictures to illustrate the story continuity, I had already written. Added as well for this reason was the scientific explanation on page 1 of the release and the last panel at the foot of page 13. (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. H at 5). On or around February 16, 1938, the pair resubmitted the re-formatted Superman material to Detective Comics. Soon thereafter Detective Comics informed Sie-gel that, as he had earlier suggested to them, one of the panels from their Superman comic would be used as the template (albeit slightly altered from the original) for the cover of the inaugural issue of Action Comics. (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. I). On March 1, 1938, prior to the printing of the first issue of Action Comics, Detective Comics wrote to Siegel, enclosing a check in the sum of $130, representing the per-page rate for the thirteen-page Superman comic book release and enclosing with it a written agreement for Siegel and Shuster’s signatures. The agreement assigned to Detective Comics “all [the] good will attached ... and exclusive right[s]” to Superman “to have and hold forever.” (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. F). Siegel and Shuster executed and returned the written assignment to Detective Comics. This world-wide grant in ownership rights was later confirmed in a September 22, 1938, employment agreement in which Siegel and Shuster acknowledged that Detective Comics was “the exclusive own-erf]” of not only the other comic strips they had penned for Nicholson (and continued to pen for Detective Comics), but Superman as well; that they would continue to supply the artwork and storyline (or in the parlance of the trade, the “continuity”) for these comics at varying per-page rates depending upon the comic in question for the next five years; that Detective Comics had the “right to reasonably supervise the editorial matter” of those existing comic strips; that Siegel and Shuster would not furnish “any art copy ... containing the ... characters or continuity thereof or in any wise similar” to these comics to a third party; and that Detective Comics would have the right of first refusal (to be exercised within a six-week period after the comic’s submission) with respect to any future comic creations by Siegel or Shuster. Detective Comics announced the debut of its Action Comics series with full page announcements in the issues of some of its existing publications. Specifically, in More Fun Comics, Vol. 31, with a cover date of May, 1938, Detective Comics placed the following black-and-white promotional advertisement on the comic’s inside cover, which reproduced the cover of the soon-to-be published first issue of Action Comics, albeit in a greatly reduced size: Similarly, Detective Comics, Vol. 15, with a cover date of May, 1938, had a full-page black-and-white promotional advertisement on the comic’s inside cover which contained within it a reproduction of the cover (again in a reduced scale) of the soon-to-be published first issue of Action Comics: To provide some context and contrast, the cover of the first issue of Action Comics is notable for its difference from the promotional advertisements both in its scale and its colorized format. Superman itself was published by Detective Comics on April 18, 1938, in Action Comics, Vol. 1, which had a cover date of June, 1938. A full reproduction of the original Superman comic contained in Action Comics, Vol. 1, is attached as an addendum to this Order. See Attachment A to this Order. The Superman comic became an instant success, and Superman’s popularity continues to endure to this day as his depiction has been transferred to varying media formats. The Superman character has evolved in subsequent works since his initial depiction in Action Comics, Vol. 1. These additional works have added decades of new material to further define, update, and develop the character (such as his origins, his relationships, and his powers and weaknesses) in an ongoing flow of new exploits and supporting characters, resulting in the creation of an entire fictional Superman “universe.” For instance, absent from Action Comics, Vol. 1, was any reference to some of the more famous story elements now associated with Superman, such as the name of Superman’s home planet “Krypton.” Many of Superman’s powers that are among his most famous today did not appear in Action Comics, Vol. 1, including his ability to fly (even through the vacuum of space); his super-vision, which enables him to see through walls (“x-ray” vision) and across great distances (“telescopic” vision); his super-hearing, which enables him to hear conversations at great distances; and his “heat vision,” the ability to aim rays of extreme heat with his eyes. The “scientific” explanation for these powers was also altered in ensuing comics, initially as owing to differences in gravity between Earth and Superman’s home planet (the latter being much larger in size than the former), and later because Krypton orbited a red sun, and his exposure to the yellow rays of Earth’s sun somehow made his powers possible. In a similar Earth-Krypton connection, it was later revealed that Superman’s powers could be nullified by his exposure to Kryptonite, radioactive mineral particles of his destroyed home planet. Aside from the further delineation of Superman’s powers and weaknesses, many other elements from the Superman story were developed in subsequent publications. Some of the most famous supporting characters associated with Superman, such as Jimmy Olsen and rival villains Lex Luthor, General Zod, and Brainiac, were created long after Action Comics, Vol. 1, was published. Moreover, certain elements contained in Action Comics, Vol. 1, were altered, even if slightly, in later publications, most notably Superman’s crest. In Action Comics, Vol. 1, the crest emblem was a small, yellow, inverted triangle bearing the letter “S” in the middle, shown throughout the comic as solid yellow in most instances and as a red “S” in two instances. Thereafter, the emblem changed, and today is a large yellow five-sided shield, outlined in the color red, and bearing the letter “S” in the middle, also in the color red. The acclaim to which the release of Action Comics, Vol. 1, was greeted by the viewing public quickly made Superman not only the iconic face for the comic book industry but also a powerful super-salesman for his publisher. Detective Comics oversaw the creation, development, and licensing of the Superman character in a variety of media, including but not limited to radio, novels, live action and animated motion pictures, television, live theatrical productions, merchandise and theme parks. From such promotional activity, Detective Comics came to “own[] dozens of federal trademark registrations for Superman related indicia, such as certain key symbols across a broad array of goods and services.” (Decl. Paul Levitz ¶ 10). The most notable of these marks that are placed on various items of merchandise are “Superman’s characteristic outfit, comprised of a full length blue leotard with red cape, a yellow belt, the S in Shield Device, as well as certain key identifying phrases[,]” such as “ ‘Look! ... Up in the sky! ... It’s a bird! ... It’s a plane! ... It’s Superman!” (Decl. Paul Levitz ¶ 10). Meanwhile, Siegel continued to submit other comic book characters to Detective Comics that were also published. Sometimes these submissions were without Shuster serving as an illustrator and sometimes, such as in the case of Superman’s youthful persona “Superboy,” see Siegel v. Time Warner Inc., 496 F.Supp.2d 1111 (C.D.Cal.2007), without illustrations accompanying the submission. Among these subsequent creations was “The Spectre,” a comic written by Siegel and illustrated by Bernard Baily, which first appeared in 1940 in Detective Comics’ More Fun Comics, Vol. 52. The comic told the story about a superhero with a supernatural bent — the character being the spirit of a police officer killed in the line of duty while investigating a gangland overlord and who, after meeting a higher force in the hereafter, is sent back to Earth with nearly limitless abilities but offered eternal rest only when he has wiped out all crime. With Superman’s growing popularity, a growing rift developed between the parties. Siegel and Shuster believed that Detective Comics poached the artists apprenticing out of Siegel and Shuster’s studio in Cleveland by moving them in-house to its New York offices, and further believed that Detective Comics had not paid them their fair share of profits generated from the exploitation of their Superman creation and from the profits generated from copycat characters that they believed had their roots in the original Superman character. As a result, in 1947, Siegel and Shuster brought an action against Detective Comics’ successor in interest in New York Supreme Court, Westchester County, seeking, among other things, to annul and rescind their previous agreements with Detective Comics assigning their ownership rights in Superman as void for lack of mutuality and consideration. After a trial, official referee J. Addison Young issued detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law wherein he found that the March 1, 1938, assignment of the Superman copyright to Detective Comics was valid and supported by valuable consideration and that, therefore, Detective Comics was the exclusive owner of “all” the rights to Superman. The parties eventually settled the Westchester action and signed a stipulation on May 19, 1948, whereby in exchange for the payment of over $94,000 to Siegel and Shuster, the parties reiterated the referee’s earlier finding that Detective Comics owned all rights to Superman. Two days later, the official referee entered a final consent judgment vacating his earlier findings of fact and conclusions of law, and otherwise reiterating the recitals contained in the stipulation. The feud between the parties did not end after the Westchester action. In the mid-1960s, the simmering dispute boiled anew when the expiration of the initial copyright term for Superman led to another round of litigation over ownership to the copyright’s renewal term. In 1969, Siegel and Shuster filed suit in federal district court in New York seeking a declaration that they, not Detective Comics’ successor (National Periodical Publications, Inc.), were the owners of the renewal rights to the Superman copyright. See Siegel v. National Periodical Publications, Inc., 364 F.Supp. 1032 (S.D.N.Y.1973), aff'd by, 508 F.2d 909 (2nd Cir.1974). The end result of the litigation was that, in conformity with United States Supreme Court precedent at the time, see Fred Fisher Music Co. v. M. Witmark & Sons, 318 U.S. 643, 656-59, 63 S.Ct. 773, 87 L.Ed. 1055 (1943), in transferring “all their rights” to Superman in the March 1, 1938, grant to Detective Comics (which was reconfirmed in the 1948 stipulation), Siegel and Shuster had assigned not only Superman’s initial copyright term but the renewal term as well, even though those renewal rights had yet to vest when the grant (and later the stipulation) was made. After the conclusion of the 1970s Superman litigation, the New York Times “ran a story about how the two creators of Superman were living in near destitute conditions”: Two 61-year-old men, nearly destitute and worried about how they will support themselves in their old age, are invoking the spirit of Superman for help. Joseph Shuster, who sits amidst his threadbare furniture in Queens, and Jerry Siegel, who waits in his cramped apartment in Los Angeles, share the hope that they each will get pensions from the Man of Steel. Mary Breasted, Superman’s Creators, Nearly Destitute, Invoke His Spirit, N.Y. Times, Nov. 22,1975, at 62. Apparently in response to the bad publicity associated with this and similar articles, the parties thereafter entered into a further agreement, dated December 23, 1975. See id. (“ ‘There is no legal obligation,’ Mr. Emmett[, executive vice-president of Warner Communications, Inc.,] said, ‘but I sure feel that there is a moral obligation on our part’ ”). In the agreement, Siegel and Shuster re-acknowledged the Second Circuit’s decision that “all right, title and interest in” Superman (“including any and all renewals and extensions of ... such rights”) resided exclusively with DC Comics and its corporate affiliates and, in return, DC Comics’ now parent company, Warner Communications, Inc. (‘WCI”), provided Siegel and Shuster with modest annual payments for the remainder of their lives; provided them medical insurance under the plan for its employees; and credited them as the “creators of Superman.” In tendering this payment, Warner Communications, Inc. specifically stated that it had no legal obligation to do so, but that it did so solely “in consideration” of the pair’s “past services ... and in view of [their] present circumstances,” emphasizing that the payments were “voluntary.” The 1975 agreement also made certain provisions for Siegel’s spouse Joanne, providing her with certain monthly payments “for the balance of her life if Siegel” died before December 31, 1985. Finally, Warner Communications, Inc. noted that its obligation to make such voluntary payments would cease if either Siegel or Shuster (or their representatives) sued “asserting any right, title or interest in the ‘Superman’ ... copyright.” As the years went by Warner Communications, Inc. increased the amount of the annual payments, and on at least two occasions paid the pair special bonuses. As the time grew nearer to the December 31, 1985, cutoff date for surviving spouse benefits, Joanne Siegel wrote the CEO for DC Comics expressing her “terrible worry” over the company’s refusal to provide Jerome Siegel life insurance in the 1975 agreement. (Deck Michael Bergman, Ex. NN). She voiced her concern that, should anything happen to her husband after the cutoff date, she and their daughter “would be left without any measure of [financial] security.” (Deck Michael Bergman, Ex. NN). The parties thereafter agreed by letter dated March 15, 1982, that Warner would pay Joanne Siegel the same benefits it had been paying her husband if he predeceased her, regardless of the time of his death. (Deck Michael Bergman, Ex. 00). Jerome Siegel died on January 28, 1996, and Joanne Siegel has been receiving these voluntary survival spouse benefits since that time. In the meantime, changes in the law resurrected legal questions as to the ownership rights the parties had to the Superman copyright. With the passage of the Copyright Act of 1976 (the “1976 Act”), Congress changed the legal landscape concerning artists’ transfers of the copyrights in their creations. First, the 1976 Act expanded by nineteen years the duration of the renewal period for works, like the initial release of Superman in Action Comics, Vol. 1, that were already in their renewal term at the time of the Act’s passage. See 17 U.S.C. § 304(b). Second, and importantly for this case, the 1976 Act gave artists and their heirs the ability to terminate any prior grants of the rights to their creations that were executed before January 1, 1978, regardless of the terms contained in such assignments, e.g., a contractual provision that all the rights (the initial and renewal) belonged exclusively to the publisher. Specifically, section 304(c) to the 1976 Act provides that, “[i]n the case of any copyright subsisting in either its first or renewal term on January 1, 1978, other than a copyright in a work made for hire, the exclusive or nonexclusive grant of a transfer or license of the renewal copyright or any right under it, executed before January 1, 1978, ... is subject to termination ... notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary .... ” It is this right of termination that Joanne Siegel and Laura Siegel Larson now seek to vindicate in this case. In pursuing such a claim, the two heirs, initially sought the legal assistance of a highly regarded copyright expert, Mr. Arthur J. Levine, in compiling the information necessary to draft the termination notice itself. On April 3, 1997, the two heirs served seven separate notices of termination under section 304(c) of the 1976 Act, purporting to terminate several of Siegel’s potential grant(s) in the Superman copyright to defendants, including the March 1, 1938, assignment; the May 19, 1948, stipulation; and the December 23, 1975, agreement. The termination notices also specified that they covered hundreds of works, with the added proviso that the intent was for the termination notice to apply “to each and every work ... that includes or embodies” Superman, and the failure to list any such work in the notice was “unintentional and involuntary.” Each of the termination notices had an effective date of April 16, 1999. A flurry of settlement discussions between the parties quickly ensued, but just as quickly fizzled out. Nearly two years then passed without much discussion between the parties. The day before the purported termination was to take effect, defendants sent a letter to Siegel’s counsel, Mr. Levine, rejecting “the validity and scope” of the termination notices. (Decl. Marc Toberoff, Ex. Q at 171). The same day DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz wrote to Joanne Siegel that his company would “continue to provide the income and insurance benefits you ... have been receiving under the 1975 agreement, without prejudice to [the company’s] rights under that agreement, as long as we all continue to pursue the goal of working together.” (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. P). Not long after the termination notices’ effective date passed, the Siegel heirs retained new counsel and the parties reentered into settlement discussions to resolve their respective claims to the Superman copyright. Towards that end, DC Comics (and its “successors, past and present subsidiaries or affiliates”) and the Sie-gel heirs executed a tolling agreement on April 6, 2000, whereby it was agreed that neither would “assert any statute of limitations ... defense[ ] relating to ... the [Termination] Notices” based on “the passage of time during the period from the date hereof until cancellation of this Tolling Agreement pursuant to paragraph 7 hereof (the ‘Tolling Period’)” while the parties attempted “to find an amicable resolution in respect of the [Termination] Notices.” (Reply Decl. Marc Toberoff, Ex. A at 1). The agreement further provided that the tolling period would remain in effect “until 10 business days after the earlier of: (a) one of the parties terminating negotiations, in writing, relating to the [Termination] Notices, or (b) the parties reaching an amicable resolution of the disputes between them relating to the Notices.” (Reply Decl. Marc Toberoff, Ex. A at 2). At some point the broad outline of a global settlement concerning the copyright to the Superman material, as well as to other works Siegel either authored or contributed material to Detective Comics (notably, Superboy and The Spectre properties), was reached. Specifically, on October 19, 2001, counsel for Joanne Siegel and Laura Siegel Larson sent a six-page letter to Warner Bros.’ General Counsel confirming and summarizing the substance of the settlement. The letter concluded that “if there is any aspect of the above that is somehow misstated, please let me know by [October 22, 2001] at 2:00, as I will be out of the office — and likely difficult to reach — for the following four weeks.” (Decl. Marc Toberoff, Ex. BB). A week later, on October 26, 2001, Warner Bros.’ General Counsel John Shulman responded with a letter, stating that he had “reviewed” the summary set forth in the October 19 letter, and then “enclosefd] ... a more fulsome outline of what we believe the deal we’ve agreed to is”; the outline was five pages long. (Decl. Marc Toberoff, Ex. CC). The letter concluded that Warner Bros, was “working on the draft agreement” so as to “have this super-matter transaction in document form.” (Decl. Marc Toberoff, Ex. CC). A few months later, on February 1, 2002, outside counsel for Warner Bros, provided a copy of the promised draft agreement (spanning fifty-six pages), with the proviso that, “[a]s our clients have not seen this latest version of the agreement, I must reserve their right to comment.” (Decl. Marc Toberoff, Ex. DD). Mention was also made in the draft agreement for the need of certain “Stand Alone Assignments” that had as yet not been finalized, something which Warner’s outside counsel promised would be forthcoming. (Decl. Marc Toberoff, Ex. DD). Three months later, on May 9, 2002, Joanne Siegel wrote a letter to Time Warner’s Chief Operating Officer Richard Parsons, recounting that she and her daughter had “made painful concessions and reluctantly accepted John Shulman’s last [settlement] proposal [in October, 2001],” but upon reading the proposed draft agreement learned that they had been “stabbed in the back,” as it “contained new, outrageous demands that were not in the [October, 2001] proposal,” such as “condition[ing] recei[pt of] financial compensation for our rights on demands which were not in the proposal we accepted.” (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. Z). The letter concluded that “[a]fter four years we have no deal and this contract makes an agreement impossible.” (Deck Michael Bergman, Ex. Z). Time Warner’s CEO quickly responded with a letter of his own on May 21, 2002, expressing shock and dismay as “each of the major points covered in the draft agreement ... accurately represented the agreement previously reached” by the parties. (Deck Michael Bergman, Ex. AA). The letter continued by acknowledging that, as with all lengthy negotiations, Time Warner “expected” that the submission of the draft agreement would result in further “comments and questions on the draft” by Siegel family’s representatives that “would need to [be] resolve[d].” (Deck Michael Bergman, Ex. AA). The letter concluded by reaffirming Time Warner’s continued interest “that this agreement can be closed based upon the earlier discussions with [the Siegel family’s] lawyers.” (Deck Michael Bergman, Ex. AA). Not long thereafter, the Siegel heirs’ lawyers submitted for the family’s review and approval a re-draft of the February 4, 2002, agreement the lawyers had crafted. (Deck Marc Toberoff, Ex. AA). The Sie-gel heirs, on September 21, 2002, rejected the redraft and fired their attorneys. (Deck Marc Toberoff, Ex. AA). That same day Joanne Siegel and Laura Siegel Larson sent a letter to DC Comics’ President and Publisher Paul Levitz notifying the company that they were “stopping] and end[ing] negotiations with DC Comics, Inc., its parent company AOL Time Warner and all of its representatives and associates concerning” their rights to, among other things, Superman. (Deck Michael Bergman, Ex. DD). Joanne Siegel and Laura Siegel Larson thereafter filed the present action, with the assistance of new counsel, Marc Tober-off, on October 8, 2004. Both sides have since filed cross-motions for partial summary judgment. Reduced to their essentials, the legal questions at stake in the parties’ cross-motions are two-fold: (1) The validity and enforceability of the termination notices in light of (a) whether any copyrightable Superman material contained in the promotional advertisements for Action Comics, Vol. 1, lies outside the reach of the termination notice (and hence, the termination notice is not enforceable against it); (b) whether certain portions of the Superman Comic in Action Comics, Vol. 1, are in the nature of a work for hire (and hence, not subject to termination); (c) whether the failure to list the 1948 consent judgment in the notices as one of the grants sought to be terminated materially affects the notices of termination; (d) whether the post-termination receipt of benefits under the 1975 agreement acts as a novation to re-grant the Superman copyright; (e) whether the statute of limitations ran out before the instant action was instituted thereby forestalling this lawsuit; and (f) whether the settlement negotiations that took place between the parties resulted in an enforceable agreement disposing of the claims asserted in the present action; and, (2) The parameters of what was recaptured (and the rights flowing therefrom) through the termination notices, namely, (a) whether plaintiffs have a right to defendants’ post-termination foreign profits from the exploitation of the Superman copyright; (b) whether plaintiffs are entitled to profits from any of the various trademarks that defendants have procured since the grant in marketing Superman; (c) whether plaintiffs are entitled to profits from the derivative works of the Superman material published by Detective Comics and its successors in interest prior to the termination notice’s effective date; and (d) whether any recovery of profits extends beyond those made through DC Comics’ exploitation of the Superman copyright to that of its corporate siblings and parent who are licensees to that copyright’s movie and television rights, be it based on an alter-ego theory or other notion of equity. A. Validity and Enforceability of Termination Notices The 1976 Act created a new right allowing authors and their heirs the ability to terminate a prior grant to the copyright in their creations. See 17 U.S.C. § 304(c). The 1976 Act also set forth specific steps concerning the timing and contents of the notices that had to be served to effectuate the termination of a prior grant. One of the most important steps was placing a limit on the temporal reach such a notice could have on what was subject to being recaptured. Specifically, the “[germination of the grant may be effected at any time during a period of five years beginning at the end of fifty-six years from the date copyright was originally secured.” 17 U.S.C. § 304(c)(3) (emphasis added). Moreover, the notice is required to be “served not less than two or more than ten years before” its effective date. Taken together, someone seeking to exercise the termination right must specify the effective date of the termination, and that effective date must fall within a set five-year window which is at least fifty-six years, but no more than sixty-one years, from the date the copyright sought to be recaptured was originally secured, and such termination notice must be served two to ten years before its effective date. The purpose of this time window for terminating pre-1978 grants was so that the only rights to the copyright affected thereby were those to the 19-year extension in the renewal term created by the 1976 Act, leaving undisturbed the grantee’s vested interest to the original 28-year renewal term as set forth in the 1909 Act, the governing statute at the time the grant itself was made. Additional procedures required to be followed to make the termination notice effective were specified as well: The author or his or her heirs had to serve “an advance notice in writing upon the grantee or the grantee’s successor in title”; the notice had to be signed by the author or his or her heirs; the notice was required to “state the effective date of the termination”; and the notice must be “recorded in the Copyright Office before the effective date of termination.” 17 U.S.C. § 304(c)(4). Beyond these statutory requirements, the notice was also required to “comply, in form, content, and manner of service, with [the] requirements that the Register of Copyrights ... prescribe^] by regulation.” 17 U.S.C. § 304(c)(4)(B). Toward that end, the Register promulgated regulations implementing this statutory proviso. See 37 C.F.R. § 201.10. Among those regulations was one requiring the terminating party to identify in the notice “each work as to which the notice of termination applies.” 37 C.F.R. § 201.10(b)(l)(ii). As one noted author has commented, “[i]t is difficult to overstate the intricacies of these [termination] provisions, the result of which is that they are barely used, no doubt the result desired by lobbyists for assignees.” William Patry, Choice of Law and International Copyright, 48 Am. J. CoMP. L. 383, 447 (2000); see also Burroughs v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., 683 F.2d 610, 621 (2nd Cir.1982) (commenting that the steps necessary to make a termination effective oftentimes create “difficult, technical questions”). Those intricate provisions oftentimes create unexpected pitfalls that thwart or blunt the effort of the terminating party to reclaim the full measure of the copyright in a work of authorship. This case is no different. 1. Promotional Announcements Plaintiffs gave notice that the effective date of the termination notices was April 16, 1999, meaning that, backdating from that date sixty-one years, the termination notices would leave unaffected (or better said, beyond their reach) any statutory copyright that had been secured in the Superman material before April 16, 1938. Defendants contend that the promotional announcements for Action Comics, Vol. 1, featuring a graphical depiction of Superman, fall just a few days outside the five-year effective window of plaintiffs’ termination notices; therefore, they argue, any copyright material contained in those promotional announcements, notably the illustration of Superman on the cover of Action Comics, Vol. 1, is unaffected by the termination notices and remains theirs to exploit exclusively. As defendants frame it, section 304(c)(3)’s five-year effective window “is tantamount to a statute of limitations^] ... if any work falls outside the five-year window established by the [termination] effective date, it cannot be recaptured, and the original copyright grant remains in force for that work, allowing the grantee to continue exercising the granted rights without liability.” (Defs’ Mot. Partial Summ. J. at 29). Thus, any work that was published with notice prior to April 16, 1938, ie., sixty-one years before the stated effective date, remains untouched by the termination notice. Plaintiffs do not dispute the legal consequence section 304(c)’s five-year window has in this case on the effective reach of their termination notices. As drafters of the notice, Siegel’s heirs were given carte blanche in identifying the termination notices’ effective date. Once they chose a date, certain consequences flowed therefrom, the most important of which is to cabin the five-year window within which the notice can recapture any copyright secured in the material to which the grant was directed. A copyright in a work statutorily secured even just days outside this five year window is beyond the effective reach of the termination notice, in much the same way a tardily-filed renewal registration has been held to be ineffective. Cf. 3 Nimmer on Copyright § 9.05[b][l] at 9-44 (“a variance of even several days is fatal and that the purported renewal is void to rescue the subject work from the public domain, whether filed after expiration of the one year or prior to its initiation”). A leading treatise supports such a calculation and the consequences flowing from it: The appropriate dates for termination notices are measured from “the date copyright was originally secured, or beginning on January 1, 1978, whichever is later.” In the case of pre-January 1, 1978 works, “secured” means the actual date the work was first published with notice (or in the case of unpublished works, the date of registration), e.g., April 15, 1970, not December 31, 1970. Failure to pay attention to the differences between the date the copyright was originally secured for purposes of section 304(c) termination of transfer and section 305 expiration of term may lead to an untimely notice of termination. 2 Patry on Copyright § 7:43; see also 3 NimmeR on Copyright § 11.05[B][1] at 11-40.11 (“Suppose that statutory copyright for a song were first secured on May 21, 1925. Based on the statutory provision that termination may be effected ‘beginning at the end of fifty-six years from the date copyright was originally secured,’ the first effective date for termination should be May 21, 1981”); 3 Jay Dratler, Jr. and Stephen M. MoJohn, Intellectual Property Law: COMMERCIAL CREATIVE AND INDUStRial Property § 6.04A[3][a] (2008) (“If the year in which a work was so published predates the current year by more than sixty-one years, then the termination right [to that work] under section 304(c) has expired. The statute apparently requires calculation of all these termination periods from the exact date of publication, rather than from the end of the publication year, as is appropriate for determining copyright terms under the 1976 Act”). It is in this sense that one can say whether a termination notice is timely or not, a question that does not go to the notice’s validity (the notice remains valid with respect to a copyright in works that was secured during the five year window) but as to its enforceability against a copyright in a particular work pre- or postdating that window. Thus, the key in deciding this timeliness question begins with a determination of when the copyright in the work in question was secured, and not when the work itself was created. The determination of when the copyright in a work is secured is when the material was protected by statute, meaning when the copyright in such a work secured protection under this country’s copyright laws. Under the 1909 Act, “works could have obtained statutory copyright ..., without the necessity of registration, simply by the act of publishing copies of the work bearing a proper copyright notice. As to such works, registration did not create the copyright, but merely recorded it.” 2 Nimmer on Copyright § 7.16[A][2][b] at 7-148 (emphasis added); see also 17 U.S.C. § 10 (repealed). Thus, the initial question is whether the comic books containing the promotional announcements bore such a copyright notice upon them. Section 19 of the 1909 Act delineated what constituted proper notice: “The notice of copyright required by section 10 of this title shall consist either of the word ‘Copyright’, the abbreviation ‘Copr.’, or the symbol ©, accompanied by the name of the copyright proprietor, and if the work be a printed literary, musical, or dramatic work, the notice shall include also the year in which the copyright was secured by publication.” If the comic books in question contained such a notice, then the date of publication is also the date the copyright in the material contained therein was secured. If not, then any of the copyrightable material in the works (including the promotional announcements) was never secured (absent evidence that the material had been registered beforehand with the Copyright Office when it was in an unpublished state) but instead was injected into the public domain. Here, the material submitted by defendants (the cover page for the magazine and the page on which the promotional announcements is displayed) does contain such a notice. At the bottom of the promotional announcement itself is the following: “Entire contents copyright 1938 by Detective Comics, Inc.” (Decl. Michael Bergman, Ex. C at 10 & Ex. D at 14). Thus, the copyright for any of the works contained in the comic books in question was secured on the date they were published. This leads to the next question: What are the publication dates for the two comic books that contained the promotional announcements for Action Comics, Vol. 1, featuring an illustration of Superman? Defendants have submitted the initial copyright registrations for these comics, which indicate that More Fun Comics, Yol. 31, was published on April 5, 1938, eleven days before the effectiveness of the plaintiffs’ termination notices, and that Detective Comics, Vol. 15, was published on April 10, 1938, six days outside the temporal reach of the termination notices. Under the 1909 Act the initial (as opposed to the renewal) copyright registration constituted prima facie evidence of the publication date for a work. See 17 U.S.C. § 209 (repealed) (providing that a “certificate of registration” issued by the Register of Copyrights “shall be admitted in any court as prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein”); see also Epoch Producing Corp. v. Killiam Shows, Inc., 522 F.2d 737, 745-46 (2nd Cir.1975); 5 PatRY on Copymght § 17:115 (observing that the reason that renewal certificates issued during the 1909 Act were not accorded prima facie status was because of the “minimal attention” the Register of Copyrights paid to the information contained therein; “[a]s long as original registration for a work has been made, the Copyright Office accepted] it at face value”). Plaintiffs attempt to refute this prima facie evidence through expert testimony and by legal argument. As to the latter, plaintiffs seek to discredit the value of the initial copyright registration for More Fun Comics, Vol. 31, because Detective Comics’ successor did not obtain that registration until nearly 28 years after its publication, on the eve of the expiration of the initial copyright term. The 1909 Act required that, once copyright had been secured by publication with notice, “there shall be promptly deposited” the required copies of the published work and the registration claim itself. 17 U.S.C. § 13 (repealed). Plaintiffs suggest that such a “late” initial registration raises questions as to the trustworthiness of any of the information contained in that registration. (Pis’ Opp. at 48-49). Plaintiffs correctly point out that Professor Nimmer in his treatise has commented that, “where there was a failure to promptly register and deposit, under the 1909 Act, some questions as to the viability of the copyright might be raised.” 2 Nimmer on COPYRIGHT § 7.16[A][2][b] at 7-150. But Professor Nimmer’s comments as to the collateral consequences flowing from such a delay were not geared toward the validity of the copyright itself, but to the existence of an impediment to bringing an action for infringement. See id. at 7-149 (noting that Supreme Court’s Washingtonian decision effectively read the “words ‘promptly deposited’ in Section 13 ... not ... as a condition subsequent that, if not satisfied, would result in destruction of the copyright,” but rather “[t]he deposit ... requirement was (as it still is) clearly a condition precedent to the right to bring an infringement action”). Although the general line of reasoning plaintiffs seek to draw from such a “late-in-time” registration makes sense from a policy perspective, plaintiffs have cited no authority that such long delays in registration vitiates or otherwise diminishes the statutorily conferred prima facie presumption to which such registration claims (and the information contained therein) are entitled, especially once a registration has (as here) been tendered. Moreover, even were the Court to entertain plaintiffs’ invitation, there remains the initial registration for the other comic book in question — Detective Comics, Vol. 15 — which was obtained shortly after that comic book’s publication and, hence, the problem pressed by defendants with the promotional announcement contained therein falling outside the effective reach of the termination notice remains. Plaintiffs next contend that the copies of the registration certificates submitted by defendants have not been authenticated by the declarant to whose declaration they are affixed, and hence, are not admissible as proof of the comic books’ publication date. (Pis’ Opp. at 48-49 (“the certificate is not properly authenticated, but is merely attached to the declaration of defendants’ attorney, who appears to have no personal knowledge of it”)). Such extrinsic evidence of authenticity by the declar-ant is unnecessary for these copyright registration certificates. Under Federal Rule of Evidence 902(1), a “document bearing a seal purporting to be that of the United States ... or of a ... department, officer, or agency thereof,” with “a signature purporting to be an attestation or execution,” is considered self-authenticated. Close inspection of the copyright registration certificates submitted by defendants clearly reveals the seal issued by the United States Copyright Office, signed by the Register of Copyrights, and bearing the following legend: “[AJttached are additional certificates for the [comics in question] which were registered in accordance with provisions of the United States Copyright Law.” (Decl. James Weinberger, Ex. B & C). The requirements of Rule 902(1) have been met, rendering the copies of the copyright registration certificates as self-authenticated and, thus, admissible. The obscure nature of these promotional announcements does not alter this analysis. It is undoubtedly true that the existence of these announcements was not widely recognized even by comic book aficionados. That, however, does not change the effect their existence has vis-a-vis the termination notices’ effective reach. Once a termination effective date is chosen and listed in the notice, the five-year time window is an unbendable rule with an inescapable effect, not subject to harmless error analysis. See 37 C.F.R. § 201.10(e) (limiting application to “[hjarmless errors in a notice” that does not “materially affect the adequacy of the information”) (emphasis added). That good cause may have existed for failing to structure the termination notices so as to sweep the announcements within its reach does not obviate application of the rule itself. The importance such promotional announcements may have on the reach of a termination notice that has been tendered was not lost on plaintiffs’ counsel, Mr. Levine, who drafted the termination notices in this case. He also drafted plaintiffs’ termination notice with respect to The Spectre copyright, and structured it in such a way so as to include among the works affected by the notice’s five-year window a promotional announcement for The Spectre contained in a comic published a month before the one containing the first comic book story of the character. (Deck Michael Bergman, Exs. WW-YY (termination notice describing among the works affected by the notice the promotional announcement as “Spectre character appearing in costume in an ad in issue No. 51 of More Fun Comics, copyrighted November 28, 1939, as Copyright Registration No. B437786, publication date January 1940”) & Decl. Paul Levitz, Ex. A (containing picture of The Spectre ad)). Having provided prima facie evidence of the comic books’ publication dates, the burden shifts to the plaintiffs to produce some evidence calling into question those dates. The burden of production is not a heavy one (in large measure owing to the fact that so little is proffered by the applicant or scrutinized by the Copyright Office in the application process to procure the registration in the first instance), but it is one that must be met nonetheless. See 3 PatRY on Copyright § 9:14 (“the Copyright Office has no ability to verify facts stated in the certificate, and not surprisingly makes no effort to do so.... At the most, the Office can take notice of any inconsistent facts that appear on the deposit copy and request clarification from the claimant. ... In any event, [the opposing party] should be required to present only a small degree of evidence calling into question the fact at issue in order to rebut the certificate’s presumption”). On that point all that plaintiffs have submitted is the opinion of a comic book historian, Mark Evanier, who was retained by DC Comics in the 1970s to, among other things, assist it “in attempting to determine approximate dates of past publication” of its comics. (Deck Mark Evanier ¶ 12). From this particular experience, as well as his long history in the comic book industry, Mr. Evanier seeks to cast doubt on the veracity of the asserted publication dates for the comics containing the promotional announcements. The general thrust of his expert opinion is that, outside the first printing of certain famous comic superheros such as Superman in Action Comics, Vol. 1, a particular “run of the mill” comic book’s exact date of publication during the 1930s and 1940s is difficult to determine, rendering the dates listed on the certificates as nothing more than “mere guesstimates” by the publisher. (Deck Mark Evanier ¶ 10). Furthermore, Mr. Evanier downplays the significance of the fact that the comic books in question contained promotional announcements for Action Comics, Vol. 1, as necessarily meaning that their publication must have preceded Action Comics publication. As Mr. Evanier explains, the dates provided by publishers were often the dates initially scheduled or intended for publication, but the actual dates often varied -with printing, delivery, and other delays. (Deck Mark Evanier ¶ 11). Mr. Evanier’s expert opinion is chock full of information on the publication of comic books in general during this time period, but is void of any specific evidence or opinion as to the publication of the particular comic books in question in this case. He offers no evidence of any specific printing, delivery, or other problems that may have affected the publication of More Fun Comics, Yol. 31, or Detective Comics, Vol. 15. His general opinion thus does not sufficiently refute the prim