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NEWS: U.S. Man Sues Over Toei's Knights of the Zodiac/St. Seiya


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Konstantin



Joined: 24 Jul 2008
Posts: 13
Location: Seattle, WA
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:55 pm Reply with quote
He who represents himself has a fool for a client. The fact that the guy is suing for $1B and including the US government in the suit does nothing to dispel that impression.
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Ichigo77



Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 389
Location: California
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:09 pm Reply with quote
Whats next some swimsuit company suing TOEI over One Piece because they were calling their swimsuits One Piece before 1997? What about a bleach company sueing Studio Pierrot over bleach because they were making bleach before 2001?
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Sunday Silence



Joined: 22 Jun 2010
Posts: 2047
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:22 pm Reply with quote
Ichigo77 wrote:
Whats next some swimsuit company suing TOEI over One Piece because they were calling their swimsuits One Piece before 1997? What about a bleach company sueing Studio Pierrot over bleach because they were making bleach before 2001?


I'm more shocked Monster Cable hasn't sued Viz over the release of the Monster manga, despite their actions.
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2545
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:22 pm Reply with quote
mrsatan wrote:
Just what we need, another stumbling block for getting the rest of Saint Seiya released here.


Wow, it took this long for someone to worry over something that has nothing to do with this story...

Anyway, this lawsuit has absolutely nothing to do with the potential of us getting more Saint Seiya. This only has to do with the Knights of the Zodiac name; this will have absolutely no effect in regards to licensing anything Saint Seiya-related, especailly since DiC's version of the anime, the aforementioned "Knights of the Zodiac", has pretty much sullied that specific name over here and absolutely no one would ever license a Saint Seiya title in the U.S. and Canada with the intent of using the KotZ name ever again.

In short, as long as a company licenses something Saint Seiya-related and does not use the Knights of the Zodiac name there is nothing this guy can do in terms of filing a suit against the company.
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Jaymie



Joined: 18 Jun 2009
Posts: 915
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:25 pm Reply with quote
It's going to be dismissed. Including the United States government in some case about an Anime? Suing for 1 billion dollars? Not to mention the fact that St. Seiya came before his Zodiac Knights copyright was even filed.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14761
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:26 pm Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Sounds pretty damned frivolous to me, especially since the Zodiac title was used for St. Seiya's European release-if I'm not mistaken- which probably means it predates his copyright.


That's irrelevant. You can have companies from separate countries/jurisdictions file trademarks of the same name for similar products, and not have an issue because their products are sold in separate countries and thus cannot be confused with each other. It becomes an issue when one of those companies moves into another's country/jurisdiction.


Ichigo77 wrote:
Whats next some swimsuit company suing TOEI over One Piece because they were calling their swimsuits One Piece before 1997? What about a bleach company sueing Studio Pierrot over bleach because they were making bleach before 2001?


Common words/phrases cannot be trademarked - unless it's attached to a specific circumstance, like the NY Jets' Bart Scott's "Can't Wait!" That's why Band-Aid(TM) is protecting "band-aid" from becoming the people's common word for bandage because then Band-Aid(TM) would lose the trademark.


Sunday Silence wrote:
Ichigo77 wrote:
Whats next some swimsuit company suing TOEI over One Piece because they were calling their swimsuits One Piece before 1997? What about a bleach company sueing Studio Pierrot over bleach because they were making bleach before 2001?


I'm more shocked Monster Cable hasn't sued Viz over the release of the Monster manga, despite their actions.


Monster Cable and Viz are selling 2 very different products. There's no problem unless Monster is selling literature or Viz is selling hardware.

That's why Apple Corps (the Beatles record label) and Apple Computer were able to co-exist for a long while - until Apple Computer got into the music business (iPod and iTunes).

The purpose of trademark is to prevent confusion over the same/similar products.
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:49 pm Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
That's why Apple Corps (the Beatles record label) and Apple Computer were able to co-exist for a long while - until Apple Computer got into the music business (iPod and iTunes).


Apple records sued long before the time of iPod and iTunes, the moment apple computers started to produce music they deemed their markets had in fact collided with one other and won.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14761
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:59 pm Reply with quote
mangamuscle wrote:
enurtsol wrote:
That's why Apple Corps (the Beatles record label) and Apple Computer were able to co-exist for a long while - until Apple Computer got into the music business (iPod and iTunes).


Apple records sued long before the time of iPod and iTunes, the moment apple computers started to produce music they deemed their markets had in fact collided with one other and won.


Yep. Then they settled and had an agreement that Apple Computers won't go into the music business (beyond the realm of what computers could do).
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E-Master



Joined: 21 Aug 2005
Posts: 471
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 4:01 pm Reply with quote
I only seen the first 30 episodes of St. Seiya, but not Knights of Zodiac since I've heard bad things about that abaption.

I doubt this guy's going to get a billion dollars on this lawsuit. Though i'm curious how this case is going to turn out wether he gets a billion dollars or empty pockets with the whole court laughing at him.
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Dessa



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 4438
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 4:18 pm Reply with quote
GATSU: Yeah, I know they could've filed for an injunction at any time. What I figure is that an injunction is all they'll likely be able to get out of this lawsuit.
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Sunday Silence



Joined: 22 Jun 2010
Posts: 2047
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 4:40 pm Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
Sunday Silence wrote:
Ichigo77 wrote:
Whats next some swimsuit company suing TOEI over One Piece because they were calling their swimsuits One Piece before 1997? What about a bleach company sueing Studio Pierrot over bleach because they were making bleach before 2001?


I'm more shocked Monster Cable hasn't sued Viz over the release of the Monster manga, despite their actions.


Monster Cable and Viz are selling 2 very different products. There's no problem unless Monster is selling literature or Viz is selling hardware.


If you bothered to look, Monster Cable has been well known infamously for suing people that use the word "Monster" in their business a/or products that doesn't relate to cables for A/V equipment. The most infamous one had to be them suing Monster Mini Golf, which caused quite an uproar on the internets a few years back.
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Sailor S





PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 4:44 pm Reply with quote
A lot of these frivolous lawsuits could be avoided if they'd just make it so the loser has to pay the winner's legal fees and some punitive damages. That way people would only try this if they had an air tight case. Yeah, I suppose that's not an ideal situation either, but something has to be done to get these stupid cases out of court so lawsuits over real slights can get resolved in a more timely manner.
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KabaKabaFruit



Joined: 20 Sep 2007
Posts: 1871
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 5:24 pm Reply with quote
Sailor S wrote:
A lot of these frivolous lawsuits could be avoided if they'd just make it so the loser has to pay the winner's legal fees and some punitive damages. That way people would only try this if they had an air tight case. Yeah, I suppose that's not an ideal situation either, but something has to be done to get these stupid cases out of court so lawsuits over real slights can get resolved in a more timely manner.

Exactly. These types of cases do nothing more than waste the court's time. In addition, using time complacency as a tool for your suits just reeks of cowardice.
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Deacon Blues



Joined: 09 Mar 2005
Posts: 383
Location: Albuquerque, NM
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 5:39 pm Reply with quote
*blinks* Uh... Knights of the Zodiac and Zodiac Knights... two completely different titles. This works, how?
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14761
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 5:44 pm Reply with quote
Sunday Silence wrote:
enurtsol wrote:
Sunday Silence wrote:
Ichigo77 wrote:
Whats next some swimsuit company suing TOEI over One Piece because they were calling their swimsuits One Piece before 1997? What about a bleach company sueing Studio Pierrot over bleach because they were making bleach before 2001?


I'm more shocked Monster Cable hasn't sued Viz over the release of the Monster manga, despite their actions.


Monster Cable and Viz are selling 2 very different products. There's no problem unless Monster is selling literature or Viz is selling hardware.


If you bothered to look, Monster Cable has been well known infamously for suing people that use the word "Monster" in their business a/or products that doesn't relate to cables for A/V equipment. The most infamous one had to be them suing Monster Mini Golf, which caused quite an uproar on the internets a few years back.


Well hopefully Monster Cable has already learned from that 2006 debacle when they ended up paying Monster Mini Golf's $200,000 legal fees. What with Monster Cable and Viz being even further apart, with Monster Cable selling tangible hardware while Viz selling intangible intellectual property.
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