Altman copyright dispute settled

In view of the overseas use right of Altman series, the dispute between Yuangu Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Yuangu company), the original creator of Altman image, um Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as um company) and SimPort, a Thai, has lasted for more than 20 years. A few days ago, Yuangu company and um company filed copyright related lawsuits in the United States and made decisive progress.

On March 10, Yuangu company issued a notice on its official website. The notice mentioned that on April 18, 2018, the Central District District Court of California issued a judgment on the copyright related litigation dispute between Yuangu company and um company, which fully supported Yuangu company's claim that the 1976 contract provided by UM company was not authentic, and Yuangu company also enjoyed the right to develop works based on the image of "Altman" outside Japan All rights to goods. In response, um company filed an appeal. On December 5, 2019, the 9th U.S. Federal Circuit Court of appeals rejected the appeal of UM company and ordered um company to pay compensation for infringement damages and litigation costs to Yuangu company of USD 4 million. At present, the judgment has come into force.

It is understood that Yuangu Gao, the representative of Yuangu company, signed an authorization contract with sinporter, a Thai, in 1976. The authenticity of the authorization contract has always been the focus of controversy in a series of litigation disputes. In Thailand, the court supported Yuangu's claim that the contract documents were forged; in China, the appraisal results implemented in Thailand failed to pass the examination of the litigation procedure, and the court ruled that Yuangu lost the lawsuit. It is worth noting that in 2018, in response to the authorization of Guangzhou blue arc animation Media Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as blue arc company) from um company to adapt and produce "iron and steel flying dragon goodbye Ultraman" and release it, Yuangu company has filed a lawsuit against six defendants such as blue arc company, which is still under trial. However, on February 17, 2020, Horgos caviar culture media Co., Ltd., one of the defendants, issued a statement saying that it fully recognized all the claims of Yuangu and reached a settlement with Yuangu.

Comment

At a time when global cultural barriers are gradually opening up, content exchange and IP licensing are in unprecedented demand, the management and conscious maintenance of copyright assets cannot be ignored. As a content provider, we should pay attention to the control of assets, strengthen risk control, especially standardize contracts to avoid disputes. As the buyer, we should further improve the ability of combing the authorization chain and risk identification, and realize that flawless copyright is a good start for subsequent production and development.