Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! - It's Time to Pay the Price
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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I mainly read spoilers for One Piece to keep myself up to date. I'll also often read spoilers for shows I don't really take too seriously, since I'll likely never watch them anyway.
Because copyright and trademark laws are different for each country. You can copyright something in one country, but it won't apply for other countries--you have to do them each separately, and it becomes largely a matter of first-come, first-serve. If some anime (let's call it A for simplicity's sake--I don't know if one exists or not with that name) gets released in Japan, and there has been no other TV program called "A," then the people who made A can obtain the trademark. If someone decides to bring it to another country, such as an English-speaking one, where there is already a TV program called A, the anime's name has to change to something else. Likewise, if this English-speaking country's program decides to make its way over to Japan, it would likely have to change its name too because our anime A has gotten there first.
This is actually due to legal issues with ABC (the channel). FUNimation originally wanted to show Detective Conan with that name on ABC Family, and the two companies shared copyrights and trademarks on the show and its stuff. Later on, someone at ABC sat down to watch the show and figured it was a bit too violent for a family channel. So ABC put the show in limbo and kept the legal rights. FUNimation wanted to release Detective Conan SOMEWHERE, and ABC still carries the rights for Detective Conan, so FUNimation changed the name of the show to Case Closed and then changed everyone's names to prevent ABC from suing. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14758 |
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Yeah, ya can have different trademarks in different regions and even markets. But you're partially wrong about copyrights. Signatory countries to the Berne Convention regarding copyrights have to respect each other's copyrights - meaning if it's copyrighted in one signatory country, it's copyrighted in all signatory countries. So if you copyrighted something in the US, it's automatically copyrighted in Japan, without you having to do anything in Japan - and vice versa. It's trademarks that ya have to file in each country/region, and it's trademarks that ya have to protect because if ya don't defend your trademark, ya can lose it.
May I ask where you got such info? |
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GATSU
Posts: 15298 |
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Raikuro:
That is a rip-off, but I wouldn't be surprised if that recall had anything to do with it. But yeah, even when it was still "widely" available, I remember the latter half of Jojo taking forever to be released on R1 DVD. The AOD otaku who hyped the hell out of mediocre Geneon dress-up garbage like Petite Cosette are to blame for not doing a better job promoting an awesome title like Jojo. |
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la_contessa
Posts: 200 Location: Pennsylvania |
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Brian, I am totally with you on the future (current?) primacy of streaming. It has literally changed my anime-watching life. I have one question, however, based on your implication that Aniplex is only licensing shows for North American release that Funimation, Viz, etc. are passing over: did they really pass on Puella Magi Madoka Magica? I don't follow message boards or even fandom in general very closely, but my impression was that Madoka Magica was huge. Was my impression wrong? Is there some other reason Funimation, etc. didn't want that show? Or will Aniplex start hanging on to its own popular titles in the future without even giving the native NA licensors a chance (a la Shueisha and Viz)?
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3652 |
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I don't have any inside scoop, but I'm pretty sure "huge" in Japan translates to "expensive license" in America. If the Japanese side of things has higher expectations than the American side does, then the license is going to be too expensive for anyone to pick up.
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PMDR
Posts: 140 |
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Something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
Most people think their stuff (actual merchandise or the work labor they do at their job, or whatever) is worth gold and want to price it accordingly. If they have an option to hold out and not reduce the price to find demand, they probably will. Eventually the unsold inventory will age or rot or pile up and the price will collapse, or the item will become worthless. A box of fruit can go very quickly from top dollar to trash. A valued job skill can go from highly paid to outmoded and unwanted in a matter of years. If nobody will pay it, then the price is merely wishful thinking. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4422 |
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I've wondered about the effectiveness of that pricing strategy many times when I've looked for rare items like out-of-print DVDs or nice figurines. I'm sure the sellers attitude is that somebody will buy it eventually and the insane profit will be worth how long they were sitting on it, but still. What if it never sells? That's inventory space that could go to something else. I too have seen many very nice items (mostly figures) that are always listed for sale, but never sell because the seller wants $300 for a $50 item. Probably the least sensible pricing I've seen is for the last volume or two of a series that is set so high that it's actually cheaper to buy the entire rereleased set and have some duplicates. Obviously, under supply and demand the seller would want to set the rare item at a high price, and then lower that price until a buyer is found. Unfortunately, "collector's items" tend to do the opposite. |
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leafy sea dragon
Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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I've seen an Xbox 360 controller go for $500 on Amazon from a "Rawbirt's Store." It was there a few years ago when I checked prices on Amazon for such controllers and found this at the bottom; it's still there last I checked. And I checked just now; he is still there trying to sell these controllers for about 12 times the market price.
So yeah, these guys are kind of nuts. I'm curious as to if they really think that someone will buy these things at those prices. I know I wouldn't.
Right here at the Anime News Network, actually. I forgot where I found it though. Also, thanks for explaining the Berne Convention. Didn't know such a thing existed. So this means, say, no country can create a TV show called "The Simpsons," right? |
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enurtsol
Posts: 14758 |
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Glad to help. And if you can find the ANN source, please, I'd also appreciate it. As for The Simpsons, that's a trademark issue - though since it's a common enough name, it's probably more limited to it's distinctive family comedy. (Copyright is for the actual work itself, so nobody could copy/use your work without your permission.) Probably someone could create another show called The Simpsons, but it has to be different enough that it can't be confused with the animated series. (How is it decided whether it's different enough? If there's a lawsuit, then a judge decides it, or else settled out-of-court. That's how.) Basically, the purpose of trademarks is so that products won't get confused with each other. That's how Apple Computer and Apple Music Records got along fine (because they're in different types of business) until Apple Computers got itself into the music business with its iTunes - then the two had to settle their trademark issue, in this case, in an out-of-court agreement. |
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luffypirate
 Posts: 3186 |
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Went to Anime Expo and had a nice talk with Hideki Goto himself about the future of Aniplex of America. The success of the Garden of sinners was quite the shocker to he and his staff. Everyone around him was saying it was a mistake to try and sell the show as an import in our market. It completely over-performed (duh). He acknowledges that there are a group of fans out there that import regularly, and he's looking to capatalize on it with those nifty little translation booklets. Y'all should be expecting more of those types of releases from them.
EDIT: I should probably add this in - Those Durarara!! sets under-performed for them. He says they were puzzled because it was supposed to be a sure hit. Let's hope this doesn't make them more reluctant to dub. The Baccano! Blu-ray set sold "very well" and he'd consider looking into other releases of that nature. Last edited by luffypirate on Mon Jul 11, 2011 6:16 am; edited 1 time in total |
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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Wait. If he acknowledges that he should've sold KnK as more of a US release than a JP import since that was a "mistake", why should we expect more releases like that?
Shouldn't we expect more Baccano or Durarara type of releases? Honestly, I'd much prefer that, or at least they were consistent in how they release stuff. I mean, I already have a Madoka fund going because I have no idea how it's going to be released. Is it going to be singles? Is it going to be on BD? Is there going to be a dub? Is it going to be a cheap complete collection? Is it going to be a super fancy complete collection? I have no clue, but I'm hoping to be prepared for the worst (price-wise, that is, since I'm buying it regardless). |
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luffypirate
Posts: 3186 |
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Sinners over-performed expectations. Their best seller yet (kind of a given at that price tag though...) They didn't expect it to sell out like that. He thought it was going to be a mistake to even try with a product that expensive here, but guess not. They were pleased at it's success.
I asked him about Madoka and they are still deciding what to do with it. I'd be safe and assume DVD like what they are doing with Blue Exorcist. Too soon for Blu-ray rights. On the whole pricing issue, he says that's the biggest gripe he hears from fans. He said his inbox is constantly flooded with complaint after complaint regarding pricing. He didn't specify a certain product that the complaints were about, but price in general. |
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AntztheGreat
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If Aniplex was hoping to have any kind of mainstream success with Durarara they really should have considered selling it through more than two niche online retailers. The Adult Swim broadcast isn't going to help move any more DVDs when people can't even find them. Selling through just RightStuf and Bandai's store works fine for $400 BD sets that only hardcore fans want, but if they want success with normal releases they're going to need to get their product out to other retailers. |
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luffypirate
Posts: 3186 |
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He actually asked me about RightStuf. I gave him my honest opinion on them (Which isn't too good) I think the whole retailer issue is more about those that are willing to agree to Sony's methods as a supplier. Sony implies minimum advertised price on retailers carrying their products. Because of that, I don't think may retailers are even interested in carrying their stuff.
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The King of Harts
Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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Ah, I misunderstood.
This and don't sell it in three parts for MSRP $50 (and without much of a discount or sales) when the market is already at two parts. That seems to be the downfall of Japanese companies in the US market. Instead of doing what we do and how we do it, they decide to do it their own way that's only vaguely similar. Honestly, if they're going to possibly rethink their release strategy based on Durarara under-performing versus Kara no Kyoukai over-performing, I'm going to be extremely disappointed in AoA. So many things were working against the DRRR release that it's not really fair to work off of. If they're going to release things in the US market for the US market (so excluding imports), they need to release stuff like the US market. Funimation and NISA have shown that you can release premium collections (like AoA obviously wants to) and still be reasonably priced, and they should start looking at that. |
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