Kirby Estate Lawsuit Settled

So, a judge has ruled that Jack Kirby's heirs have no claim to any existing Marvel copyrights. You can view the full 50 page decision here, if you like.

Personally, I figured this was the only way this could end, disheartening as it is. Putting aside Kirby's shabby treatment by Marvel, the fact remained that he did, in fact, sign work-for-hire contracts. Now, as craptacular as those contracts were, they were the only game going then and Kirby, like a lot of creators, signed over the rights to his work and knew full well the consequences of that action.

However, I don't blame his heirs for trying it on, especially considering the outdated nature of said contracts in regards to the way work-for-hire works these days. If they had succeeded, things might have gotten interesting...

EDIT 8/2/2011: Things got interesting anyway.