Camsing International, the Hong Kong company that controls POW! Entertainment, has hit back at claims that Stan Lee was tricked into selling the company he founded. The feted comic book creator, Lee last week announced a $1 billion lawsuit against Camsing in California. 
 
 Lee claimed that unscrupulous business partners took advantage of his declining eyesight in order to swindle him, and to hand over an exclusive right to use his name to the Hong Kong company. 
 
 In a statement, Camsing said that it had seen the copy of Lee’s lawsuit, as published by media including Variety. But said that Camsing has not been served with the complaint, and “nor has the filing been confirmed by the listed courthouse.” 
 
 “The complaint is completely without merit. In particular, the notion that Mr. Lee did not knowingly grant POW! Entertainment the exclusive rights to his creative works or his identity is so preposterous that the Company has to wonder whether Mr. Lee is personally behind this lawsuit. 
 
 “There is no question that Mr. Lee–who along with his daughter was and remains a substantial POW! Entertainment shareholder—clearly understood the terms of the agreements he signed. The evidence, which includes Mr. Lee’s subsequent statements and conduct, is overwhelming and the Company looks forward to presenting it in court. When and if the complaint is properly served, POW! Entertainment will respond in a timely and appropriate manner through legal channels.” 
 
 Related Double IPO as China’s Maoyan and Meituan Dianping Raise Cash in Hong Kong Content Deal Could Be Lifeline for Hong Kong's i-CABLE 
 
 Listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Camsing is an investment holding company with entertainment interests spanning animation, film, TV, game, theme activities, as well as the sales of IP derivative products. For the year to June 2017 it had revenues of $373 million (HK$2.93 billion) and net profits of $5.74 million (HK$45 million). 
 
 Earlier, Lee brought a similar suit against Jerardo Olivarez, a former publicist and business manager to Lee. The suit accused Olivarez of draining Lee’s accounts of $1.4 million and using his blood to create a commemorative stamp without Lee’s consent. 

 The prolific comic book creator says he was conned into signing over his name and likeness rights. 
 
 The epic battles in Stan Lee's comics may be nothing compared to the array of legal fights he's waging — which now includes a billion-dollar lawsuit against the company he co-founded. 
 
 Lee is suing POW! Entertainment for fraud and conversion, claiming the company and two of its officers conspired to steal his identity, name and likeness in a "nefarious scheme" involving a "sham" sale to a Chinese company. 
 
 POW! was acquired in 2017 by Hong Kong-based Camsing International, and Lee says POW! CEO Shane Duffy and co-founder Gill Champion didn't disclose the terms of the deal to him before it closed. At the time, Lee claims, he was devastated because his wife was on her deathbed and they took advantage of his despair — and his macular degeneration, which rendered him legally blind in 2015. 
 
 Lee says last year Duffy and Champion, along with his ex-business manager Jerardo Olivarez, whom he's currently suing for fraud, asked him to sign a non-exclusive license with POW! for the use of his name and likeness in connection with creative works owned by the company. Instead, what he purportedly signed was a "fraudulent" intellectual property assignment agreement that granted POW! "the exclusive right to use Lee's name, identity, image and likeness on a worldwide basis in perpetuity." 
 
 According to the complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Lee has been selective about licensing his name and likeness and will only authorize the use on a non-exclusive basis. 
 
 "Lee does not recall anyone reading the Illegitimate Document to him, and, due to his advanced macular degeneration, he could not have read it himself," writes attorney Adam Grant in the complaint. "While the Illegitimate Document purports to contain Lee's signature, Lee never knowingly signed it. Either Duffy, Champion, Oliveraz [sic] or POW! (1) forged Lee's signatures; (2) lifted Lee's signature from another document and imposed it on the Illegitimate Document; or, (3) someone, likely one of the Defendants, induced Lee to sign the Illegitimate Document by using a bait and switch tactic: telling Lee it was something else." 
 
 Lee also claims POW! took control of his social media accounts and has been impersonating him — something he's recently addressed on Twitter. 
 
 Lee is seeking an injunction declaring the agreement invalid and unenforceable and damages in excess of $1 billion. 
 
 A representative for POW! sent The Hollywood Reporter a statement Wednesday in response to the complaint: “The allegations are completely without merit. In particular, the notion that Mr. Lee did not knowingly grant POW! exclusive rights to his creative works or his identity is so preposterous that we have to wonder whether Mr. Lee is personally behind this lawsuit. There is no question Mr. Lee — who, along with his daughter, was and remains a substantial POW! shareholder — clearly understood the terms of the agreements he signed. The evidence, which includes Mr. Lee’s subsequent statements and conduct, is overwhelming and we look forward to presenting it in court.” 
 
 The company in April released an open letter to fans saying it was concerned about "the upheaval within [Lee's] personal management and life" following an investigative report by THR that included allegations of elder abuse. 
 
 May 16, 12:10 p.m. Updated with a statement from POW! Entertainment.
– POW! Entertainment is speaking out against what it says is a lawsuit "completely without merit." It comes, surprisingly, from the company's own co-founder, 95-year-old Stan Lee. Filed Tuesday, the $1 billion suit accuses POW! of a "fraudulent" deal that gave the company "the exclusive right to use Lee's name, identity, image, and likeness on a worldwide basis in perpetuity," per the Hollywood Reporter. Though Lee's signature reportedly appears on the agreement, no one told him of its contents, and "due to his advanced macular degeneration, he could not have read it himself," his attorney says. In response, Camsing International, the parent company of POW!, tells Variety that Lee "clearly understood the terms of the agreements he signed." The allegation is "so preposterous" that the company "has to wonder whether Mr. Lee is personally behind this lawsuit," it adds.