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Tatsunoko Wins Macross Lawsuit


bake_art

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Tatsunoko Pro has won the latest round in the ongoing Macross lawsuits. Presiding Supreme Court Judge, Hiroshi Fukuda, has dismissed Studio Nue's appeal, recognizing and cementing the ruling that Tatsunoko Pro owns the copyright for Super Dimensional Fortress Macross. Having been dismissed by the supreme court, this case can not be apealed any further and the ruling is final.

In a seperate court case, currently under appeal at the supreme court, the Tokyo High Court ruled that Studio Nue owns the character designs related to Super Dimensional Fortress Macross.

the rest of the article is in here

This could be why HG is making DYRL superposeables now.

Edited by bake_art
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It was actually known that TP owned SDF Macross and BW owned the character designs.

If I'm not mistaken this was just an appeal by BW in reference to the court case that happened last year. Doesn't really change anything since DYRL and the sequels were not really involved in the case.

As for HG making DYRL toys.... they probably bought the license from whoever owned it in the US.

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Yeah, this seems like it is just the finalization of the previous lawsuit, in which Tatsunoko confirmed that they had anime distribution rights to SDF Macross. They own the show. Not the storiess, characters, designs, nor the rights to make sequels or derivatives, just SDF Macross itself.

This isn't bad at all, because this has been the case for years. Even before any of this legal mess came up. It's only slightly different in that Tatsunoko can now distribute the tv series in Japan as well as internationally. This particular case does not specifically touch on derivatives.

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It's only slightly different in that Tatsunoko can now distribute the tv series in Japan as well as internationally.

Not so. The memorandum is still in effect. Therefore, even though Tatsunoko owns the copyright to the animation, they still cannot distribute or air it in Japan- BigWest still retains the rights for domestic distribution.

Edited by the white drew carey
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By the way, ANN hasn't been the most reliable reporter of developments in the Macross legal disputes. In fact, they often seem to be cribbing off of MW, and that could be what's happenening here. They may be looking at the same sources I was and (mis)translating

作品の基礎になるキャラクターの図柄については、別の訴訟でぬえ側に著作権を認める東京高裁判決が確定している。

as saying that there's been an appeal of the lineart copyright case to the Supreme Court. Let me see if I can get the attention of someone who actually knows Japanese...

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By the way, ANN hasn't been the most reliable reporter of developments in the Macross legal disputes. In fact, they often seem to be cribbing off of MW, and that could be what's happenening here. They may be looking at the same sources I was and (mis)translating
作品の基礎になるキャラクターの図柄については、別の訴訟でぬえ側に著作権を認める東京高裁判決が確定している。

as saying that there's been an appeal of the lineart copyright case to the Supreme Court. Let me see if I can get the attention of someone who actually knows Japanese...

At least in that sentence there's no mention of an appeal. In fact the verb 確定している (or "kakutei shiteiru" for the Kanji impared) is usually translated as "set in stone" but in this case I'd go for reaffirmed or upheld. In fact, I thought I even translated the press release that came from if it is the one from quite a few months back... oh well.

Again, nothing new. Tatsunoko Pro owns the footage to the TV show and Big West owns the characters/designs/likenesses; and like the Duke said, this has nothing to do with DYRL except in HG's twisted logic.

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