National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc.

National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications
Court	United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Full case name	National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc., et al.
Argued	May 4 1951
Decided	August 30 1951
Citation(s)	191 F.2d 594 (2d Cir. 1951)
Case history
Prior history	Complaint dismissed, 93 F. Supp. 349 (S.D.N.Y. 1950).
Subsequent history	Clarified, 198 F.2d 927 (2d Cir. 1952).
Holding
An author does not forfeit his original copyright to a piece of intellectual property if his work is contracted to another who fails to properly copyright works which incorporate the original property. Fawcett Publications' Captain Marvel comic strips were proven to have plagiarized those of National Comics' Superman character.
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting	Circuit Judges Harrie B. Chase, Jerome Frank, Learned Hand
Case opinions
Majority	Hand, joined by Chase, Frank
Laws applied
Copyright Act of 1909

National Comics Publications v. Fawcett Publications, 191 F.2d 594 (2d Cir. 1951). was a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a twelve-year legal battle between National Comics (also known as Detective Comics and DC Comics) and the Fawcett Comics division of Fawcett Publications, concerning Fawcett's Captain Marvel character being an infringement on the copyright of National's Superman comic book character. The litigation is notable as one of the longest-running legal battles in comic book publication history.

The suit resulted in Fawcett Publications shuttering the Fawcett Comics division and cancelling all of its superhero-related publications, including those featuring Captain Marvel and related characters. In the 1970s, National, rebranded as DC Comics, licensed the rights to Captain Marvel and revived the character. DC Comics then purchased the rights completely by 1991.^[1]