Thinking out loud: Possible results of the Kirby and Siegel lawsuits

I was talking with my cousin Steve yesterday and part of our conversation was about the lawsuits from the Kirby and Siegel family members against Marvel and DC Comics. Part of me hopes that the family members win. Another part, while still wanting them to win, is afraid of what will happen if they do. For most of my life I have heard that the comic book industry wouldn't be around in 10 years. These lawsuits could be what makes it happen.
Forgetting the DC reboot, that happens sooner then we may like, if they win there are two things that could happen. One is that Marvel and DC raise their prices to make up for the money they will have to pay the families. That would just be shooting themselves in the foot. In this economy it is the current prices that are keeping people from buying them. Another option is that they would just keep things the same and pay the families. But that probably won't happen. Still another option is that the companies could just stop publishing books that featured the characters that Kirby and Siegel created. That would also be a bad idea, especially for Marvel. Most of their characters were created by or co-created by Jack Kirby. No Captain America, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor etc. The main characters for DC that is involved are Superman and Superboy. Other characters, like the Spectre, were created after Jerry Siegel was hired at DC. Actually Superboy was too but that is the tricky part of the lawsuit. Superman was created before he was hired and Superboy is the younger version of Superman. Still it is something to wonder about. Comic books wouldn't seem like comic books without those characters.
Of course part of the DC reboot is to change Superman and in that way avoid paying Jerry Siegel's daughter anything. Will comic book audiences buy that Superman is really an alien that is part of a government project? I doubt it. I know I don't.
Oh I just thought of this. It could also be the end for sites like this. Right now they have looked the other way with fans posting stories, using characters on their headers and or the names of characters and books as the titles of their blogs. They could try to sue the people who run the blogs and those that run the services that the blogs are on to make up the money to pay the families. It probalby won't happen because the sites are still good pr for the comic books. Still, if it does, we may need to shut down so we can personally survive in this economy.