Marvel Enterprises entered into long-term multiple licensing deals with four publishers last week that will dramatically increase the number of books in the marketplace with Marvel characters. The company also learned that it could be on the hook for a multimillion dollar legal settlement with Stan Lee, creator of a number of the company's best-known characters.
Under the publishing agreements, the four houses—DK Publishing, HarperCollins, Pocket Books and Meredith Books—will each publish a large number of titles in specific categories using a wide number of Marvel characters. Marvel's Tim Rothwell said the publishing agreements are in keeping with Marvel's corporate strategy of consolidating its relationships with partners in all of its product lines. The agreements "puts a comprehensive publishing strategy in place," Rothwell said. Marvel had been signing agreements on a case-by-case basis. "We've been under represented in bookstores," Rothwell said, but the new agreements "should ensure that we're embedded in places like Borders, Barnes & Noble and airport stores."
DK will publish children's and other nonfiction illustrated titles. HC will focus on movie tie-in books beginning with this summer's Fantastic Four film and continuing with tie-ins for X-Men 3 in 2006 and Spider-Man 3 in 2007. Books will be aimed at children ages 5-12 and will include junior novelizations, picture story books, chapter books and manga books as well as coloring and activity books. Pocket will develop a series of adult paperback novels that will feature original stories that Rothwell likened to Pocket's Star Trek line. Meredith is publishing a range of children's products, but with a focus on sound storybooks.
On the legal front, a New York court ruled that Lee, creator of Spider-Man and other characters, was due 10% of the profits from movies, TV and merchandise that feature his characters. Lee filed suit against Marvel in November 2002, charging that he was due a share of the profits under a contract he signed in 1998. Marvel will appeal the decision.
