Forum - View topicNEWS: Judge Orders Hold on U.S. Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime License
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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It's like leasing a house to someone. The lease agreement states rights and responsibilities for both parties and who violates first is the one who is in breach and the one who has to pay. It is entirely possible that 4kids didn't actually breach anything in the contract with their little backroom shenanigans. (You would be STUNNED by what isn't in contracts. Terms are left out all the time and dealt with by common law and statutory gap fillers.)
Also there is one very good reason why there should be two trials and the Japanese should be happy about it. Contract law isn't exactly known for awarding lots of punitive damages. Rather the Japanese would most likely be limited to the benefits of their contractual bargain which might not include the money they could stand to sue for that 4kids allegedly got in backroom dealings. If 4kids didn't breach their contract, they might still owe that money but under some other theory of law rather than the contract breach. This bit from the prior article on this topic might be very important to the suit.
However, the Japanese could sue under a different legal theory rather than breach of contract. (Probably something in Tort, that's always a good place to start looking for angle to file a lawsuit.) Hence then the second trial, which might cover completely different legal areas. I wish ANN could get ahold of the complaint or copies of the contract's important terms and clauses. I would kill to know what the standard boilerplate is for licensing contracts for anime. I hope the case opinion gets published later, it'll make for fun reading. 
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cohenmarioman
 Posts: 102 |
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I am loling all through this now, because so many were so confident 4kids would lose this step, claiming they have absolutely no case. I guess they gave too much trust in the Japanese companies that aren't so used to American law systems.
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Sorraffy
Posts: 158 |
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.... and how screwed up that system is. |
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cohenmarioman
Posts: 102 |
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It is one of the best in the world. Treats everyone fairly. The judge isn't going to have any bias against 4kids or ADK, at all. It is against the law, and a judge having bias either steps down, or is fined. |
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Kid Ryan
 Posts: 506 Location: Sacramento, California |
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This is good news, I hope 4Kids manages to english dub the rest of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's (as well as Yu-Gi-Oh! GX) before they lose the license(s).
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14758 |
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Guys, the story is pretty simple. TV Tokyo and NAS signed a contract with 4Kids. TV Tokyo and NAS think 4Kids violated the contract, terminated it, and are trying to re-sell it. 4Kids doesn't believe they violated the contract and took TV Tokyo and NAS to court. Until it's settled in the courts, the judge decides to keep the status quo: 4Kids still has the license and thus TV Tokyo and NAS cannot re-sell it.
No, this is not like that. There was never any legal issue regarding the Ghibli films. Miyazaki simply hated that New World Pictures edited Nausicaa and thereafter refused to license any more Ghibli films until the Disney-Tokuma deal guaranteed no cuts.
Not 2 trials, just 2 phases. The 1st phase: whether 4Kids did violate the contract, and the 2nd phase: how much does 4Kids owe. In theory, 4Kids could owe them money but still not to the level of violating the contract (ex: not knowingly or intentionally doing something that violates the contract, but in said action resulting in owing them money).
Yes, justice is blind. No sentimental feelings - just the facts. |
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korayon
Posts: 1 |
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Just wondering about something here. NAS is trying to sell the new series Yugioh Zexal. They are not trying to re-sell the old yugioh series. Yugioh Zexal is a completely different series. In Japan, some novel author is having legal problems with one publisher. But the author still can sell his second series of his problem novel to the other publisher. Is the law really different in America? America treats all different series as one because they share the same name?
Richard J, i want to ask something. Let's say if judge say 4kids no fault. So NAS and TV Tokyo will probably just wait until the license expire right? But can a judge force the owner to extend the rights to 4kids even if the original owners do not willing to deal with 4kids anymore? Can a judge even force the real owner to sell the new series Yugioh Zexal to 4kids? |
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luisedgarf
Posts: 656 Location: Guadalajara, Mexico |
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[quote="jsevakis"]
Except the American law system's definition of "Common sense" is different from the rest of the world regarding copyrights. I can't say if it's the same thing about Japan, but at least in other countries (especially Mexico, my own country) the copyright owners have ABSOLUTE rights about their own work and they can give or take out those right whatever they want. Obviously, the licensor can be able to fight back, but the ownership of the rights ALWAYS belong to the owner, and the licensor is only that, a licensor. But, if you try to do that in the U.S., they can sue you to hell, since it's considered an abuse from the owner fo the copyrights against the licensor. It's obvious the Japanese owners don't know a single thing how the American laws work. |
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cohenmarioman
Posts: 102 |
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[quote="luisedgarf"]
Well, in that sense it is a ton better, it is fairer. Once you sign a contract, you cannot break it. When they signed that contract back in 2008, I thought they were guaranteed until the end, 2015. I don't think NAS is too keen to American copyright laws, because they probably thought they could just take it away at will like that. I would say they can force it, as 4kids has rights to the whole series, including whatever is after. If not, then NAS would have to wait 4 years to get Zexal into the worldwide market, which isn't a nice thing to wait for since it will already be over. |
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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The information we're missing here is the crucial bit to fully understanding this, which is the wording and terms of the contract.
Given how long 4kids has had YGO, and how popular it is, I'd say it's probably safe to assume that there is a right of first refusal clause in the contract. This means that whenever TV Tokyo and NAS make a new YGO series, they have to offer it to 4kids first, and can only offer it to other companies if 4kids turns it down. Of course, this is assuming that the contract is still in play. Obviously, TVT/NAS say it's not, because they say 4kids violated it and therefore the contract is terminated. Since 4kids is disputing that the contract was violated, and thus disputing that TVT/NAS could legally terminate the contract, the contract is not fully null-and-void until the court case is finished. Which means that, if it does exist, 4kids' right of first refusal is still in play until the contract is fully terminated. [Assuming the RtFR clause] the judge made the right decision. TVT/NAS were in the wrong in trying to sell Zexal until the case is over. Personally, with or without the clause, I think it was poor form to try to sell it anyway, it just makes TVT/NAS look bad. |
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enurtsol
Posts: 14758 |
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Depends on how the contract is worded. The contract may give 4Kids the license for until a certain year, including any new series. Or the contract may give 4Kids the right of first refusal for any new series, so it has to be offered to them first. Or 4Kids is the exclusive licensee of YGO in N. America, so no other company can also license YGO in that region. We don't know. |
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cohenmarioman
Posts: 102 |
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I'm almost certain 4kids has the first right clause, as hard core fans were so upset when 4kids got 5Ds, but then a few smarter members made note of how 4kids is the first one to be contacted. This could have been speculation though.
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jr240483
 Posts: 4376 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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True , though one problem. They have no one to blame but themselves. Either way it's soo funny and soo sad that their doing all of this just to hold on to a series. Talk about desperate. WHY CANT THEY JUST DIE ALREADY!!! |
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cohenmarioman
Posts: 102 |
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Well, because it seems NAS might have done wrong. They did with this at least. It might hurt them when the actual case starts. |
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Lynx Amali
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Um...you are aware that it was Big West who wanted to block it, right? The rights were sold to Harmony Gold by Tatsunoko Production who did not own the series. It was owned by Big West. And HG didn't block it. We got Plus. The reason we haven't got anything else Macross-related is because of the relationship between Harmony Gold and Big West. Anyway; was actually interested in Zexal. Sad to see this happen. |
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