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Answerman - What Happens to a License When a Publisher Goes Under?


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RoverTX



Joined: 17 Dec 2008
Posts: 424
PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:22 pm Reply with quote
So what exactly is that status of Gosick? I assume because no one has picked it up years later on the cheap, that it is stuck in some type of weird limbo?
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myskaros



Joined: 13 Jun 2011
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:40 pm Reply with quote
I'd assume Bandai still has the license, based on the response. Is that not the case?
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Thespacemaster



Joined: 03 Mar 2012
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:41 pm Reply with quote
RoverTX wrote:
So what exactly is that status of Gosick? I assume because no one has picked it up years later on the cheap, that it is stuck in some type of weird limbo?


Bandai Entertainment bought the rights to it, but decide to stop there DVD publishing a few months afterword...my guess since the parent company still exists the license rights still belong to them.

for some reason nobody has acquired the license rights so the series can be released by a different publisher. which is weird cause this series is actually quite popular.

the only way to official get a copy of it in the western market is by buying the sub only release from madman entertainment in austraila
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 1:53 pm Reply with quote
I'd like to know why a license can't be pulled when the licensor does nothing with it and just holds on to the ball in some kind of spite like harmony gold's hanging on to Macross? Why can't the Japanese licensee's just null and void their agreement due to inactivity detrimental to profit?
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Saffire



Joined: 25 Nov 2007
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:02 pm Reply with quote
Mohawk52 wrote:
I'd like to know why a license can't be pulled when the licensor does nothing with it and just holds on to the ball in some kind of spite like harmony gold's hanging on to Macross? why can't the Japanese licensee's just null and void their agreement due to inactivity detrimental to profit?
It can be in most cases, since a standard contract should require periodic renewal in order to maintain. So either it's not a standard contract or the licensee is agreeing to renew the contract regardless of what Harmony Gold is doing with it.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:10 pm Reply with quote
Saffire wrote:
Mohawk52 wrote:
I'd like to know why a license can't be pulled when the licensor does nothing with it and just holds on to the ball in some kind of spite like harmony gold's hanging on to Macross? why can't the Japanese licensee's just null and void their agreement due to inactivity detrimental to profit?
It can be in most cases, since a standard contract should require periodic renewal in order to maintain. So either it's not a standard contract or the licensee is agreeing to renew the contract regardless of what Harmony Gold is doing with it.
That has to be expensive for HG if the Japanese just jack up the price of renewal to make up lost revenue, unless they just don't care.
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Mr.Shonen



Joined: 13 Aug 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:28 pm Reply with quote
That explanation was interesting. It got me thinking about one series. Law of Ueki.

Brought over and dubbed by Geneon. Then after the financial fiasco, gets rescued by Funimation. Now under Funimation's ANN entry, it's listed as licensed expired. Does this mean that a different company can purchase it and redub it?
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RoverTX



Joined: 17 Dec 2008
Posts: 424
PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:39 pm Reply with quote
Thespacemaster wrote:
...the only way to official get a copy of it in the western market is by buying the sub only release from madman entertainment in austraila


I know Gosick wasn't exactly a show that would have much of anything to censor, but I am always weary of buying something out of Australia because of all the odd censor laws. I don't want to buy a series and then find out part of the actual plot had been censor, or cut, because.... Australia...
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Utsuro no Hako



Joined: 18 May 2012
Posts: 1032
PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:45 pm Reply with quote
As for why Kodansha USA didn't pick up everything Del Rey had been publishing, I think the answer should be obvious -- they have access to sales figures. Unlike licensing a new property, they didn't have to guess how well a series would do; they had hard numbers that told them Fairy Tale, Negima and CLAMP titles would turn a profit, but Moyashimon and Alive wouldn't.

And really a series would have to be more than just moderately successful to justify a rescue since (A) readership tends to decline over time, so if the sixth volume barely turned a profit, the seventh would probably break even and the eighth would lose money, and (B) the company would have to reprint the first six volumes even though fans of the series already own the Del Rey editions.
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WingKing



Joined: 27 Apr 2015
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:45 pm Reply with quote
Mr.Shonen wrote:
That explanation was interesting. It got me thinking about one series. Law of Ueki.

Brought over and dubbed by Geneon. Then after the financial fiasco, gets rescued by Funimation. Now under Funimation's ANN entry, it's listed as licensed expired. Does this mean that a different company can purchase it and redub it?


Yes. Law of Ueki was on the list of Geneon shows that Geneon and Funimation worked out a deal for Funimation to sell (those releases - or at least the ones I own like Nanoha - have both companies' logos on them). If you look at the list you'll see that several of the shows Funimation elected to let go of once that deal expired have since been bought by other companies...most recently with the announcement about Sentai acquiring Higurashi last month.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 3:07 pm Reply with quote
Too bad there are not a million fans of Gosick, then we could have a million person march on Bandai. That would be something.
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Thespacemaster



Joined: 03 Mar 2012
Posts: 1095
PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 3:14 pm Reply with quote
RoverTX wrote:
Thespacemaster wrote:
...the only way to official get a copy of it in the western market is by buying the sub only release from madman entertainment in austraila


I know Gosick wasn't exactly a show that would have much of anything to censor, but I am always weary of buying something out of Australia because of all the odd censor laws. I don't want to buy a series and then find out part of the actual plot had been censor, or cut, because.... Australia...


i bought the madman released set and i can assure you it has no censors....it actually has some nice bonus content with it....but like is said if u want to support this series by buying the official product ...this is the only way u can. outside of japan at least
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Polycell



Joined: 16 Jan 2012
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 3:36 pm Reply with quote
Saffire wrote:
It can be in most cases, since a standard contract should require periodic renewal in order to maintain. So either it's not a standard contract or the licensee is agreeing to renew the contract regardless of what Harmony Gold is doing with it.
For the era, it was probably an "in perpetuity" agreement, but even if it wasn't, I suspect it has an automatic renewal clause with few grounds for refusal.
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jymmy



Joined: 11 Nov 2011
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 4:31 pm Reply with quote
RoverTX wrote:
I don't want to buy a series and then find out part of the actual plot had been censor, or cut, because.... Australia...

Has this happened?
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4410
PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 4:40 pm Reply with quote
Mr.Shonen wrote:
That explanation was interesting. It got me thinking about one series. Law of Ueki.

Brought over and dubbed by Geneon. Then after the financial fiasco, gets rescued by Funimation. Now under Funimation's ANN entry, it's listed as licensed expired. Does this mean that a different company can purchase it and redub it?



It should be available, though I think the bigger question then becomes if it is worth it to another company. Normally, I'd say the answer is "no" since age and having Funimation pass on it doesn't make it look good. However, Sentai seems like they are willing to take that chance considering they picked up Familiar of Zero.
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