Comic Book Artists Sue Marvel Over 'Iron Man' Body Armor

Ben Lai and Ray Lai, two brothers who run Horizon Comics Productions in Massachusetts, have found lawyers to represent them in an uphill battle against Marvel Entertainment over what the character of Iron Man wears.

According to a lawsuit filed on Thursday alleging copyright infringement and unfair business practices, the Lai brothers created in 2001 the comic book series Radix, featuring characters who "wear highly detailed, mechanized suits of body armor." They now see something too similar in the Iron Man films and its promotion.

Iron Man, featuring the superhero alter ego of Tony Stark, is based on a comic series created by Stan Lee in the 1960s.

The law allows new aspects of expression to be copyrighted so long as the authorship is sufficiently delineated and not a generic idea.

In an effort to show that Marvel had access, the Lai brothers say that after Radix came out, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used an illustration that was substantially similar to their own work. The image was allegedly used by MIT in the midst of a $50 million nanotechnology research grant from the United States Army to create a new generation of body armor for soldiers.

Supposedly, MIT apologized publicly for using the image in 2002, and a month after this occurred, Marvel hired the Lai brothers as artists to work on various comic book franchises. The complaint asserts that key personnel at Marvel were distributed the Radix materials from the Lai brothers.

The old comics of Iron Man depict the central character "wearing simple spandex-like attire and minimal armor," states the complaint, while the later films depict him "wearing a fully mechanized suit of body armor."

The complaint, filed by attorneys Jeffrey Wiesner and Paul Sennott, has pictures.

Before even getting to the issues of whether Iron Man body armor is substantially similar to Radix body armor, whether the idea of a superhero wearing such a suit of armor is more than generic, and whether Iron Man body armor is merely functional, the lawsuit figures to test plaintiffs on whether they brought a timely-enough complaint.

Marvel, which hasn't yet commented, is said to have shrugged off a cease-and-desist letter.

The old comics of Iron Man depict the central character "wearing simple spandex-like attire and minimal armor," states the complaint, while the later films depict him "wearing a fully mechanized suit of body armor."

This hideous 1996 relaunch of the title seems mechanical and ugly enough to end this lawsuit:

Did Stan keep the receipt from when he stole the idea from Mort Weisinger?

And it all looked rather Japanese Anime.

We can't fall behind the Japanese on this one.

We need to get started on a gigantic Iron Man or Robocop monument. Stat.

Seriously, I can't get over how awesome that monument is.

Me, too. I support more monuments like that. Just big, absurd heroic pose of a popular character.

Judge Allows Copyright Lawsuit Against Marvel Over 'Iron Man 3' Poster



On Monday, Marvel Entertainment pierced a lawsuit brought by Horizon Comics Productions, successfully getting a judge to reject copyright claims over Iron Man's body armor. However, the entertainment giant will still need to defend the way that Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. was presented in the poster of Iron Man 3.

Ben and Ray Lai, brothers who run Horizon, brought the lawsuit in April 2015, alleging that they created the comic book series Radix in 2001 before being hired by Marvel to work on various comic book franchises. The lawsuit contending that Marvel ripped off Radix took a bit of time getting to its present stage. Originally, the complaint came in Massachusetts before a federal judge there decided there wasn't sufficient jurisdiction to proceed.

Now that the complaint has been refiled in New York, Marvel moved for dismissal with the argument that the alleged similarities between the work are not protectable expression and that no reasonable juror could find substantial similarity.

In an opinion, district court judge J. Paul Oetken examines promotional art for both works:

Oetken agrees with Marvel that the idea of a "highly mechanized suit of armor" and the "fighting pose" are unprotectable elements, scenes a faire in the comic book or superhero genre.

When it comes to the particularized expression of the idea, the judge notes some non-identical similarity — the hairstyles, the use of blue light, the color of the suits, etc. — with the ultimate conclusion that the works do share a similarity in their "total concept or feel" to survive a motion to dismiss."

According to the opinion (read here), "This is not a case where only non-copyrightable elements exist in the work, nor is it one where the Court can conclude, at this stage, that 'no reasonable jury, properly instructed, could find that the two works are substantially similar' based on their 'total concept and overall feel.'”

Marvel does, though, defeat the allegation focusing on the artistic depictions of mechanized body armor.

Take the boots for example.

Oetken writes, "The boots have completely different colors (Radix: blue and gray; Iron Man: red and gold); the heels appear to differ (Radix: heel with spur; Iron Man: gold square near ankle); the top-foot is of a totally separate nature (Radix: angular and receding into the shin cover; Iron Man: gold and protruding from the toe box); and the toe boxes are differently sized and shaped (Radix: rounded and covers only the toes; Iron Man: boxier and covers more of the foot)."

The judge writes that an average observer "would clearly see the dissimilarities between the works and would not conclude that one was copied from the other."