BlueArc Ultraman copyright controversy
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Unless otherwise noted, all times in this article are in UTC+8 (EAT－East Asia Standard Time, CST－Chinese Standard Time). Ultraman as he appeared in Dragon Force: So Long Ultraman | |
| Information | |
| Related People | Sompote Saengduengchai, Tommy Wang, Wowkie Zhang |
| Related Companies | BlueArc Animation Studios Tsuburaya Productions SCLA |
| Related Works | Dragon Force: Rise of Ultraman Ultraman series Dragon Force |
| Related Events | Ultraman overseas copyright disputes |
The BlueArc Ultraman copyright controversy was a series of incidents caused by BlueArc Animation Studios' inappropriate use of the character of Ultraman in its works Dragon Force: So Long Ultraman, Dragon Force: Power of Ultraman, and Dragon Force: Rise of Ultraman.
Contents
Context
- Main article: Ultraman overseas copyright disputes
Thai director Sompote Saengduenchai claimed that Noboru Tsuburaya, son of Eiji Tsuburaya, had transferred the global copyrights of the Ultraman series overseas to him in 1976, while Tsuburaya claimed that Sompote's assignment contract was fake and forged. Tsuburaya and Sompote (after 2008, they became the Japanese UM Corporation that accepted the transfer of their rights) and their agents and partners launched a series of copyright lawsuits in Thailand, Japan, China and the United States.
Lawsuits status
| Country | Validity of the 1976 Contract | Judgment Court | Judgment Time | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | rowspan=3 Template:Yes Valid | Tokyo District Court, Japan | February 28, 2003 | [1] |
| Tokyo High Court of Japan | December 10, 2003 | [1] | ||
| Supreme Court of Japan | April 27, 2004 | [1] | ||
| Thailand | Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court of Thailand | April 4, 2000 | [1] | |
| Template:No invalid | Supreme Court of Thailand | February 5, 2008 | [1] | |
| China | Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court | November 2009 | [2] | |
| rowspan=2 Template:Yes Valid | Guangdong High Court | October 25, 2010 | [1] | |
| The Supreme People's Court of China | September 29, 2013 | [1][note 1] | ||
| US | Template:No Invalid | US District Court, Los Angeles | November 2017 | |
| Template:No invalid | District Court for the Central District of California | April 18, 2018 | [3] |
As of July 2018, Japan and China ruled that Sompote's side had the exclusive rights to use the works outside of Japan, while in Thailand and the United States, assignment contracts were ruled invalid.
About Tsuburaya
Tsuburaya Productions was established in 1963 and has excellent works such as the Ultraman series, but since its establishment, it has suffered a financial deficit caused by the high production cost of each work. These problems frequently affected Tsuburaya's operations.
In 1993, Tsuburaya introduced Ultraman in mainland China, and in 1995, Shanghai Tsuburaya Planning Company was established. The full copyright of this series' content was represented by Shanghai Century Huachuang Cultural Image Management Co., Ltd. in the early days of entering China (Century Huachuang is the predecessor of Shanghai Characters License Administrative Co., Ltd. (SCLA)). After the establishment of SCLA, the copyright agency contract was transferred to SCLA to continue to operate.[4] At present, the official copyright general agent of the Ultraman series in Mainland China is SCLA.
About BlueArc
Founded in 2003, BlueArc Animation Studios has produced many classic works such as RevEvolution and Fruity Robo during its early years. It has been invested on by Alpha Group and Enlight Media, but both of them withdrew later on. The Fruity Robo film produced by BlueArc in 2016 ended up as a box office disaster, so much that Tommy Wang, BlueArc's general director, spent a lot of money to buy back shares from Enlight. This is considered to be the cause of the infringement.
BlueArc and its supporters claim that Tsuburaya transferred the copyright to Sompote of Thailand's Chaiyo Productions, and then in 2008, Chaiyo transferred the copyright to Japan's UM Company, and UM Company authorized Hong Kong's TIGA Company, while TIGA Company authorized Ultramega Co., Ltd. in Mainland China, while BlueArc and Ultramega jointly established Blue Magic, responsible for the production of Dragon Force: Rise of Ultraman.
Timeline
2017
- On July 9th, the day before the Global Ultraman Day on July 10th, BlueArc's Weibo released the news that Dragon Force: So Long Ultraman will be scheduled for the next day, causing huge controversy. [5]
- On July 10th, BlueArc announced at the press conference that Dragon Force: So Long Ultraman will be released on October 1st. The animation film is jointly produced by BlueArc, LeTV Pictures, and Caviar Communications, and endorsed by Wowkie Zhang. Since July 10th is the anniversary of the original Ultraman, and the Ultraman in the press conference is set to be the villain, the painted model who played Ultraman and interacted with Wowkie at the press conference "has an eight-pack muscle belly", arousing strong dissatisfaction among fans.
- On the same day, BlueArc's official WeChat released the copyright statement signed by Blue Magic and LeTV Pictures on July 3. [6]
| Copyright statement signed by Blue Magic and LeTV Pictures |
|---|
- On July 14th, "Yongge Toutiao" published an article saying "BlueArc is Unfair", with a description of the picture [7], and then the official BlueArc Weibo reposted it.[8]
| The picture posted by "Yongge Toutiao" |
|---|
- On the same day, BlueArc's official Weibo published an article about the judgment of the Supreme Court of China, and claimed that the "1976 Contract" was a real contract and was legally binding. [9]
- On July 16, the supervisor Kazuya Hatazawa, who originally produced the 2013 Dragon Force film, tweeted that he did not participate in the production of "Ultraman's outlawed sequel". He, the production company and STAFF wanted nothing to do with it. [10]
- On July 19, Tsuburaya officially issued a statement stating that they are the producers of the Ultraman series and own the copyright of the image, and will take legal measures against the producer of So Long Ultraman. [11]
- 关于奥特曼形象在中国的未授权电影的制作发表 日文版.jpg
"About the production and release of Ultraman's image in China's unauthorized film" Japanese version
- 关于奥特曼形象在中国的未授权电影的制作发表 中文版.jpg
"About the production and release of Ultraman's image in China's unauthorized film" Chinese version
- On the same day, BlueArc's Weibo published an article claiming that it legally has the rights to use the image of Ultraman. [12]
- On July 20, Japan's UMC issued a statement in support of BlueArc. [13]
- On July 26, BlueArc's Weibo published an article about the relationship between young age and adult Guoman. [14]
- On August 10, China Intellectual Property News published an article on the matter. [note 2] [15]
- On August 11, BlueArc's Weibo reposted an article from China Intellectual Property News, saying that "justice is in the hearts of the people". [16]
- On September 6, Tsuburaya and SCLA formally filed a case against against BlueArc and Blue Magic in the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court.[17]
- On September 8th, Song Xiaojun revealed that Wowkie Zhang's theme song for So Long Ultraman was plagiarized from his own song "I Saw You in Poetry". [18]
- On September 10, Wowkie Zhang's Studio responded by denying the plagiarism.[19]
- On September 15th, the director of BlueArc and So Long Ultraman, Tommy Wang, published an article on the official So Long Ultraman Weibo account denying the plagiarism of Song Xiaojun's poems and the infringement of Tsuburaya. [20]
- On September 22, Song Xiaojun sent a lawyer's letter to Wowkie Zhang's Studio. [18]
- October 1, the movie So Long Ultraman was released. The box office gross on the first day was 9.43 million yuan, and the cumulative gross was 41 million yuan.
2018
- On February 5, Tsuburaya and SCLA applied to the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court to withdraw the lawsuit originally scheduled to start on February 7. [21]. At the same time, they also appealed again for the infringement of the film So Long Ultraman. [17]
- On March 2, the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court formally accepted the lawsuit filed by Tsuburaya and SCLA.[17]
- On March 13, Tsuburaya issued a statement explaining the appeal again. [17]
- 圆谷制作声明.jpg
"A Restatement of the Unauthorized Use of Ultraman's Image in a Movie"
- On the same day, BlueArc officially released another announcement on So Long Ultraman, saying that no new indictment was received. [22]
| BlueArc's Statement |
|---|
- On March 28, Huanqiu reposted Anime Star's report on the discovery of the sequel, Rise of Ultraman, that had started production.[23]
- On April 18, the U.S. Central District Court of California ruled in favor of Tsuburaya in the lawsuit filed by UM Company against Tsuburaya on July 20, 2017. [3]
- On April 24, Tsuburaya released relevant news at a press conference held in Tokyo, Japan.[3]
- On August 8th, netizen "Huanhuan wlh" discovered that the poster for the new RevEvolution series RevEvolution#Live action versions|Hero With Thousand Faces]][24] was using the unicorn statue of Takashi Taketani of Ocean Hall.[25]
- On August 22, "Huanhuan wlh" discovered that BlueArc's other work Hero With Thousand Faces used BBC and Schools TV material[26], while the netizen "Ning Mouzi" asked BlueArc staff, the staff said that the clip was a non-public video of BlueArc's official YouTube account, the material It is purchased through formal channels. [27]
- On September 16, "Huanhuan wlh" discovered that the RevEvolution poster [24] officially released by BlueArc on August 7 used a bronze statue of a lion. [28]
- On September 18, some netizens found that BlueArc countered the unfair competition dispute with Tsuburaya Co., Ltd. [29]
- On September 23, "Huanhuan wlh" found that the clip of the high-rise buildings in the trailer of Hero With Thousand Faces used footage from an advertisement of American TalentEarth. [30]
- On November 13th, BlueArc announced that the TV animation Dragon Force 2: Power of Ultraman will be broadcast on November 21st, and at the same time announced that Dragon Force: Rise of Ultraman will be finalized, with the poster LOGO and the words "Ultraman Animation Movie" written directly above it. [31]
- On November 21, the TV animation Power of Ultraman was broadcast.
- On December 6, the editor of "Special Vision" found that the English dubbed version of Hero With Thousand Faces has the same shot of the desert skull as the 2018 American movie Future World. [32]
2019
- On January 6, the netizen "Huanhuan wlh" found that the clips of So Long Ultraman were similar to "Ultraman N/A". [33]
- On January 17, Tsuburaya issued a "Notice on Unauthorized Works in China", saying that it had sued BlueArc in Shanghai, China, asking it to immediately stop tampering with Ultraman's image and other infringing acts. [34]
"Notice on Unauthorized Works in China" Part I
"Notice on Unauthorized Works in China" Part II
- On the same day, BlueArc responded on its official Weibo account that it was a commercial slander. [35]
| Blue Magic's Statement |
|---|
- On January 18th, Dragon Force: Rise of Ultraman was released. The box office gross on the first day was 3.24 million yuan, and the cumulative gross was 44.34 million yuan.
- On April 26, netizen "Magic Girl Supporter Bale" discovered that the official Dragon Force Weibo, which had been opened before the launch of Dragon Force: So Long Ultraman, was renamed "Ultraman Benman", and Marketing is disgusting. [36]
- On October 25, BlueArc's official Weibo published an article announcing the new TV series Dragon Force: Dragon Soul Awakens, a sequel to Dragon Force. This work is different from the previous Dragon Force 2: Power of Ultraman in that it has no Ultraman elements. [note 3]
- On November 9, Dragon Force 2 was broadcast.
- On December 25th, at 14:00, Tsuburaya appealed the BlueArc case in the twenty-eighth court of Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court. [37]
2020
- On January 11th, netizen "Huanhuan wlh" discovered some clips of Dragon Force: Rise of Ultraman were similar to the Overwatch short "New Life". [38]
- On February 17, Caviar Communications, as the co-producer of Dragon Force: So Long Ultraman, admitted that the film was infringing copyright. [39]
- On March 10, Tsuburaya issued an announcement that as of March 4, 2020, UMC and others had not filed an appeal, and Tsuburaya won the case in the Ultraman disputes in the United States. [40]
- On July 8, Tsuburaya issued an announcement stating that the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court made a judgment on the copyright infringement of So Long Ultraman, and Tsuburaya won the case. [41]
Announcement of the First Instance Judgment on the Copyright Infringement Case of Dragon Force: So Long Ultraman
- On October 25th, Dragon Force: So Long Ultraman won the Xiamen International Animation Festival "Golden Dolphin Award" [Best Film and Television Animation Feature] finalist, [42] The netizen "Magic Girl Supporter Bale" contacted the organizer by email, but no response has been received so far. [43]
Impact
- The popularity of BlueArc in the ACG circle (especially the tokusatsu circle) quickly went downhill.
- The three Dragon Force works involving Ultraman were marked with huge negative reviews: So Long Ultramans Douban score was only 2.6[44], while Rise of Ultramans Douban score was only 3.2[45].
- The Dragon Force page on Chinese Moegirlpedia was also deleted because of the hateful comments.
- Many former BlueArc fans chose to oppose BlueArc. There are also some BlueArc fans who protect the company, and this group of people gradually decreased over time.
- Many Dragon Force fans refused to recognize Dragon Force's Ultraman as canon.
- After this incident, Tsuburaya and SCLA paid more attention to copyright protection matters.
- On April 20, 2018, Starjet Toys sued BlueArc[46] for copyright infringement of Martial Mecha Saga, the reprinted version of RoboWarriors: Adventures of Lolo, and Starjet Toys won the lawsuit.[note 4] After that, on May 12, 2018, Alpha Group sued BlueArc for violating the cooperation agreement and cooperating with a third party in Fruity Robo, and Alpha Group won the case.[note 5][47] Since both lawsuits occurred after this controversy, they were both considered to be supplementary.
Notes
- Authorizations from SCLA (the official copyright agent of Ultraman in China) or Chaiyo (UMC, Ultramega, TIGA HK, etc.) can be distinguished by the copyright signs on the authorized products and linked content: The copyright signs that are seen in Tsuburaya/SCLA'S authorized Ultraman products in China are ©TPC, ©TSUBURAYA PRODUCTIONS, ©円谷プロ, or "year + the above signs", such as "©2017-2021 TSUBURAYA PRODUCTIONS" (the English in the above signs are all uppercase), and are accompanied by the SCLA LOGO and the Tsuburaya anti-piracy logo; and the authorization of Chaiyo usually affixes the following copyright marks: ©Tsuburaya Productions/Licensed by UMC/Ultramega (here, Tsuburaya produced the English name of the product not written in all capitals) or ©Chaiyo Productions Co.,Ltd, ©TSUBURAYA CHAIYO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.LICENSED BY TIGA., etc.
- ↑ The judge in this case was Yu Xiaobai, who was then a judge of the Supreme People's Court. On November 4, 2015, it was approved at the 17th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress, and he was removed from his post due to multiple trials of wrongful convictions and crimes of corruption.
- ↑ End text: "At present, the confrontation between the two sides is still ongoing. UM Corporation claimed that it would take legal measures against the Chinese film company, while UMC supported the Chinese film company and said it would take legal measures against all acts of obfuscation that affect the legitimate business of Ultraman. The Chinese filmmakers only responded to the various "shanzhai" claims: 'The film will be released as scheduled on the National Day schedule'. This sentence that is considered to be inclined towards BlueArc has caused controversy."
- ↑ Some people still regard it as the "true" sequel to Dragon Force, but some people still do not admit it because of the big difference between this work and the first season of Dragon Force. The protagonist Lele still wears an Ultraman suit, a fact regarded as crossing the line.
- ↑ The Guangzhou Intellectual Property Court made a judgment on the case of Starjet Toys suing BlueArc, ordering the three defendants (BlueArc, BlueArc Animation Studio, Alpha Group) The co-owners of RoboWarriors paid 1.2 million yuan for copyright royalties and assumed corresponding responsibilities. According to Alpha's report, BlueArc compensated Starjet 1.2 million yuan, and Alpha assumed joint and several liability.
- ↑ The People's Court of Liwan District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province ruled that BlueArc, and its executives Tommy Wang and Stephen Kam, should jointly pay 13 million yuan of liquidated damages to Alpha within ten days from the date when the judgment took effect.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 -{zh;zh-hans;zh-hant|Tsuburaya Production Co., Ltd., Shanghai Tsuburaya Planning Co., Ltd. and Sompote Saengduengchai, Chaiyo Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Book Center Co., Ltd., Shanghai Audiovisual Publishing House Retrial Civil Ruling on Copyright Infringement Disputes}-. Supreme People's Court Network.
- ↑ 円谷プロ 中国のウルトラマン著作権裁判で勝訴判決
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ultraman China Official April 24th Weibo
- ↑ 宇宙英雄奥特曼系列 品牌介绍-上海新创华文化发展有限公司
- ↑ BlueArc July 9 Weibo
- ↑ BlueArc July 10 Weibo
- ↑ Yongge Toutiao Weibo on July 14
- ↑ BlueArc July 14 Weibo
- ↑ Weibo article
- ↑ Kazuya Hatazawa Twitter on July 16
- ↑ Ultraman China Official July 19 Weibo
- ↑ Weibo article
- ↑ Blue Arc Culture July 20 Weibo
- ↑ Weibo article
- ↑ rd The upcoming Chinese version of Ultraman has caused a copyright dispute. Who does Ultraman belong to outside of Japan?
- ↑ BlueArc August 11 Weibo
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 SCLA Weibo on March 13
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 I was plagiarized by Wowkie Zhang - Song Xiaojun Zhihu
- ↑ Wowkie Zhang Weibo on September 10
- ↑ Weibo article
- ↑ -{zh;zh-hans;zh-hant|The Japanese company protested against China's infringement of Ultraman's rights protection lawsuit and lost in Japan}-. [引用时间: 2018-08-04]. （原始内容存档于2018-08-04）.
- ↑ BlueArc March 13 Weibo
- ↑ A sequel to the domestically produced Ultraman animated film, approved to shoot after record announcement
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 com/1741378104/Gty6I2Yon Blue Arc Culture August 7th Weibo
- ↑ Huanhuan wlh August 8 Weibo
- ↑ [https:/ /weibo.com/5359746355/GvOkImvAf Huanhuan wlh August 22 Weibo]
- ↑ [Rumors Relevant statement about the animal clips in the overseas preview ofRevEvolution web series]
- ↑ Huanhuan wlh Weibo on September 16
- ↑ -{zh;zh-hans;zh-hant|As we all know, BlueArc and Tsuburaya are not the same company}-. Baidu Tieba.
- ↑ Huanhuan wlh Weibo on September 23
- ↑ Weibo article
- ↑ BlueArc's special drama "Hero With Thousand Faces" is suspected of stealing clips from overseas works, netizens: no wonder
- ↑ Huanhuan wlh Weibo on January 6th
- ↑ Tsuburaya issued a statement: BlueArc's "Ultraman" work is unauthorized and a lawsuit has been filed
- ↑ BlueArc January 17 Weibo
- ↑ Magical Girl Supporter Bale April 26 Weibo
- ↑ Weibo article
- ↑ Huanhuan wlh January 11 Weibo
- ↑ SCLA Weibo on February 27
- ↑ Weibo article
- ↑ SCLA Weibo on July 8
- ↑ Xiamen International Animation Festival, October 25, Weibo
- ↑ Magical Girl Supporter Bale Weibo on November 19
- ↑ So Long Ultraman on Douban
- ↑ Rise of Ultraman on Douban
- ↑ 一个剧本拍出两部动画，谁侵权？
- ↑ http://data.p5w.net/t1205936845.html
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