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Forum - View topicLicensing Questions
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yojimboryuu
 Posts: 5 Location: Baltimore, Maryland |
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1. How is a title chosen to be licensed? 2. What is the process that occurs in getting a title licensed? 3. Who is involved in getting a title licensed? 4. What copyright laws come into play while getting a title licensed? 5. What is the process taken to get a title on DVD here? 6. What is involved in advertising and marketing the title here? |
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Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 2460 Location: Do not contact me for support. |
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Nowadays, most American companies are approached by the Japanese during production (or sometimes even during pre-production) with storyboards and other production materials. They choose to license a title based on that, typically prior to its broadcast (and thus before fansubs have any impact on its "popularity")
Without getting too technical.. The licensor solicits bids from interested companies, who offer a certain amount of money and/or royalties for various aspects of the show. In some instances, everything in the show is licensed by a single company. In other instances, everything is licensed by different companies.. so sometimes multiple companies are involved. Audio and Video rights, broadcast rights, DVD rights, Japanese language rights, extras, images and 'options' for other series are some of the things that a typical license might cover. Depending on what the American company and the Japanese company want, the 'winner' may not have the highest bid. My understanding is (historically) if the Japanese companies want to sell the title, they'll sell to the highest bidder. This is probably changing as some companies want their products well-represented, and thus turn to specific companies. It's hard to tell exactly without being "in the industry" itself, and much of what specifically goes on is protected by NDAs and just common sense; one doesn't talk about the specifics of business to their competition.
Lawyers versed in American and Japanese Business Law would write up the contract, I assume.
As shown on the Robotech bonus DVDs, sometimes you might have the rights to everything for the show... except the video itself. Companies would need to be highly aware of what they've licensed and what they haven't. If they didn't license the Japanese audio, then they (legally) can't include it on the DVD. If they didn't license the video, then all they've got is a bunch of audio tracks. As a rule of thumb: If your country is part of the WTO, or has signed the Berne Convention or any of a number of other treaties, then you would need to consider both American and Japanese copyright laws (the Japanese copyright law, while similar to American, differs slightly on what is defined as protected or not.) [EDIT] If you're referring to "Is it legal to fansub something if it isn't licensed in a country?" The answer is "No, because the Japanese company holds the license if no one else does. They could theoretically release it in your country without licensing it to anyone else. Odds are they won't, but won't doesn't mean can't." Just thought I might bolster anti-bootleg propaganda. [/EDIT] |
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Tomoyo714
 Posts: 73 Location: NY State |
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Sense we are already on the topic in this thread...
Has the Tokyo Mew Mew anime been licensed by anyone? I loved the manga and want to see the anime for it now!! 
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v1cious
 Posts: 6281 Location: Houston, TX |
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why was it necessary to put that in bold? |
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