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NEWS: Yaoi-Con Hosts Embracing Love Manga Creator Youka Nitta




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geishageek



Joined: 28 Nov 2005
Posts: 571
Location: Pleasant Valley, NY
PostPosted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 6:54 pm Reply with quote
this excites me to no end. i am so glad i have decided to go this year. her art is so fantastic and its a shame that Libre is being all jerky with Be Beautiful and wont let them release anything. but Libre screwed a lot of companies with titles.
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Toshirodragon



Joined: 14 May 2005
Posts: 166
PostPosted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 9:29 pm Reply with quote
YAY!!!!!!! No amount of exclamation marks can show my excitement! This will be my fourth Yaoi-con and hopefully the best so far!

Hopefully she's a lot friendlier to her fans than one of last years guests...
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sunflower



Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 1080
PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 5:56 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
...its a shame that Libre is being all jerky with Be Beautiful and wont let them release anything. but Libre screwed a lot of companies with titles.


Please. No one knows the truth about this situation, except that both sides think they're in the right. At this point it looks like it can only be worked out in court.

At any rate, it will be wonderful to have her back over here. I was lucky enough to get one of her posters from her first appearance, and I treasure it.
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geishageek



Joined: 28 Nov 2005
Posts: 571
Location: Pleasant Valley, NY
PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:04 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Please. No one knows the truth about this situation, except that both sides think they're in the right. At this point it looks like it can only be worked out in court


From the news shared by CMP at New York Anime Festival, Libre will not negotiate with CMP at all, meaning in or out of court. CMP has tried to fix this issue and Libre is just ignoring the situation and CMP. They have resolved many issued with other publishers, but I think all of Be Beautifuls's books are Libre titles. Beside Embracing Love, I would like to see Kizuna back on track and maybe someday the 4th Finder Series Book. And it dissapoints me greatly that I may never see the rest of these titles.
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Toshirodragon



Joined: 14 May 2005
Posts: 166
PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:22 pm Reply with quote
My suspicion is that Libre, which is Japanese for pay us MORE money, is trying to "run down the clock" on the BeBeautiful licenses. Then they'll turn around and offer those licenses to one of the publishers they CAN get along with ie who paid them more money...

I have a feeling we won't be seeing much of Biblos/Libre catalog in English anytime soon.
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mufurc



Joined: 09 Jun 2003
Posts: 612
PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 5:34 pm Reply with quote
Okay, can someone explain the Libre/Be Beautiful situation to me? Preferrably someone who is not biased toward either side.
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sunflower



Joined: 04 Sep 2005
Posts: 1080
PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:51 am Reply with quote
geishageek wrote:
From the news shared by CMP at New York Anime Festival, Libre will not negotiate with CMP at all, meaning in or out of court. CMP has tried to fix this issue and Libre is just ignoring the situation and CMP. They have resolved many issued with other publishers, but I think all of Be Beautifuls's books are Libre titles.


Most of BeBeautiful's books are Libre titles, though not all.

This is not my opinion but my understanding of Libre's reasoning from the little they've said: Libre claims CMP is stealing from them and their authors, and CMP seems unwilling to stop. Hence, negotiations aren't possible.


Back to me. Both sides feel they're in the right. If one brings it to court, the other will have no choice but to respond. A court case can result in negotiations, but if those aren't possible it will result in a ruling that will settle it.

I think only then will the fans get to see the rest of these series, which is a real pity because they're some of the best series out there.


"toshirodragon wrote:
I have a feeling we won't be seeing much of Biblos/Libre catalog in English anytime soon.


You mean the stuff BeBeautiful has, right? Because quite a few of the rest of their titles are being licensed by other publishers like 801 and BLU and DQ (though whether or not we see books from DQ any time soon...).


mufurc, no one really knows what's going on behind the scenes of this situation because there have only been a couple of sporadic statements from the participants themselves, and there seems to be spin from both sides. Pretty much everything anyone says is speculation. If you want my take on it, I think that the issue is two different interpretations of copyright law and the status of Libre.

BeBeautiful (BB) had a close relationship with Biblos and licensed several of their flagship titles. Biblos went bankrupt due to mismanagement of funds by its owner. Several of the former Biblos editors got together and bought the rights to a couple of the Biblos publications and names, like Be-Boy, and signed up a lot of the former Biblos authors, including those with licenses with BB. They called themselves Libre.

Confusion sets in when people assume that Libre is liable for contracts that Biblos entered into. To me that's like saying that I have to honor the contracts of another company because I bought part of their property at a bankruptcy sale. Libre thinks the contracts for titles they now own should be renegotiated.

On the other hand, BB bought those licenses. The fact that Biblos went under doesn't to them invalidate the fact that they purchased something in the past.

If you consider the licenses as a static thing, that makes sense to me. Though if you consider them to be a service contract of sorts, then it feels like Libre might have a point.

I think both sides are probably a little right, and only a court of international law will be able to straighten things out.

To top it off, BB doesn't seem to be running in funds right now so they probably couldn't renegotiate things or fund a court case right now if they wanted.

So things are at an impasse, and the fans are upset because new books in these series aren't being published, and even the old ones are only available on Ebay these days and going for hundreds of dollars. I guess this is a losing situation all around. I hope it gets worked out.
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mufurc



Joined: 09 Jun 2003
Posts: 612
PostPosted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:23 am Reply with quote
sunflower: thank you, I understand the problem now (as much as an outsider can understand it, anyway). Wow, what an unfortunate situation... personal opinions aside, I really hope they can settle the problem soon.
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