LA Courts rule Chaiyo's Ultraman hold is false!!!

[Dr Kain]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/...-of-tsuburaya-pro-in-ultraman-rights-lawsuit/

 

[Toku Prime]

It will be interesting to see what the fallout from this ruling ends up being. Obviously an LA court's decision does not overturn court rulings in other countries. But you could end up in a weird situation where the US recognises Tsuburaya as the sole rights holder even if the rest of the world doesn't. That gives them back access to their biggest market outside of Japan. But it doesn't totally kill off Chaiyo elsewhere (for example in China where that trailer for a weird CGI movie featuring Ultraman as a villain came from).

Early days but I look forward to more news.

 

[Dr Kain]

According to what was decided, there is no more debate, Tsuburaya owns all rights and that is the end of the story. Chaiyo owns nothing and has no right to distribute the franchise any more.

I hope Tsuburaya doesn't wait long to get Seven out on BD in the US.

 

[Toku Prime]

Within America, yes that's correct. I imagine there will be a few wrinkles along the way (will Tsuburaya insist on hard subs just so it will be really obvious if Chaiyo try to bootleg there releases in other countries?) but the American market is likely to be freed up.

But believe it or not Americans don't decide the law worldwide. So for example in China where Chaiyo previously tried to produce their own Ultraman series, this court ruling makes no difference whatsoever to the current state of affairs over there.

There's also a few other details to work out. If Crunchyroll decided to stream Taro, would they be able to release it in every territory outside of Asia as they have with all the Ultra shows so far, or would they have to region lock it to the US only?

TLDR while I'm cautiously optimistic, there's still a whole lot of details to work out. It isn't as simple as "yay it's over". Legal matters never are.

 

[SamuraiEchidna]

*Lets the cherry blossom petals fall, unleashes the confetti, sets off the fireworks, and waves the Tsuburaya flag* YAY! Victory for Tsuburaya! Take that, Chaiyo!

This is the best news update I could have gotten on Thanksgiving. They might not be out of the water just yet, but they've definitely won the biggest battle. I hope Tsuburaya finds a way to legally release more of their Ultra titles here in America because of this. I felt bad having bought the original Ultraman DVD boxset for $5 way back when. If I had known about the legal issues, I would thought twice. But I'm glad the grey clouds are clearing up for Tsuburaya at long last.