Forum - View topicNEWS: Man Arrested for Selling Modified Love Live! Character Figure
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jenthehen
 Posts: 835 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio |
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You aren't allowed to mod figures and sell them????
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TheAnimeRevolutionizer
 Posts: 329 |
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One of Japan's more absurd laws they have on merchandising, but considering the vicinity to China, which is undeniably bootleg capitol of the world, I can see why they would have laws on toys and merchandise. Still, this is absurd. Not only are you not allowed to modify figures and sell them, but you are also not allowed to create toys and sell them as fan made fan work in Japan. Guess the anime industry in Japan is very hardcore about their merchandising profit margins.... |
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4753 |
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I've never been so grateful for the first sale doctrine. What the **** Japan.
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Remington Steele
Posts: 63 |
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Wow...
Wouldn't this be the same as buying a car, modifying it and then reselling it afterwards? I don't see the problem. If it is a problem and these guys are selling more than the actual figurines sell in numbers, why not hire this guy and pay him a commission and it is win-win for everyone? |
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steelmirror
 Posts: 342 |
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Yeah what? Did this guy steal the figures, and then modify them, or...?
If its illegal to modify figurines in Japan, that's just bizarre. |
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grooven
Posts: 1426 Location: Canada |
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Oh this is similar to this article here: animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2012-05-30/man-arrested-over-modified-risque-one-piece-figures
So it is just illegal in the sense it goes against the original creator's ideas. I think they should be looking for real criminals... |
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Lord Oink
Posts: 876 |
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You're free to try to sell some homemade Mickey Mouse figures and see how much Disney likes it 
Can't go after that which does not exist. |
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steelmirror
Posts: 342 |
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yurihellsing
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Soooo Cast off's are illegal now? is GK a grey area now?
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Emerje
 Posts: 7393 Location: Maine |
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Garage kits have never been "legal" in the first place, they were just often ignored. They fall into the same laws as doujins and are supposed to only be sold at special events like Wonder Festival or even Comiket. What this guy was doing really stretches any interpretation of the laws. Reselling is a big deal in Japan since space is at a minimum, especially with so many collectors living in tiny apartments. There's a lot of stores, like Mandarake (which anyone can order from), that really only sell used items so that wasn't the problem. And these are just cheap prize figures, he's probably only making 1,000-1,500 JPY so he isn't exactly making a big profit off these. The problem is that he's not just modifying them and selling them, but that he's modifying them and selling them in bulk which really changes them from a resell to a mass produced custom which isn't really legal anywhere. Emerje |
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unready
 Posts: 407 Location: Illinois, USA |
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There's a difference between manufacturing bootleg merchandise (which is fraud) and reselling legally purchased merchandise. This guy did the second thing. Unfortunately for him, Japan (like most other countries) has no first sale doctrine. In the US, if you buy something, you can do whatever you want to it (including modifying it and reselling it), because the original seller already got his money. You're not competing for his business. In most countries, reselling something you bought (e.g., a book or a toy) is considered a copyright (o trademark) violation, if the original product was covered by a copyright (or trademark). (The US does, however, have the DMCA. If "modifying" means breaking some kind of -usually lame- copy protection, you can get nailed by that.) Someone who sells just one item that they had bought for personal use would probably fly under the radar, but this guy made a volume business out of doing it, so it got noticed. |
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configspace
Posts: 3717 |
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If you first buy the Disney figures, change them and then resell them without infringing on trademark i.e. not calling them authentic Disney or original, but simply your second-hand used, changed figure, then yes,first-sale doctrine allows you to do that. First-sale is so set in stone that there is an entire industry reselling mass modified branded electronics, such as reselling laptops on eBay and amazon that have been upgraded by the reseller and not the original manufacturer. There's also an absolute ton of refurbished off-lease computers that have been resold in non-original equipment ways, such as with upgraded hard drives (to SSDs) and updates from Win7 to Win10, none of which were even offered for these models at the time. All without the consent of the original equipment maker. And it's perfectly legal. The same applies to automotive and basically any physical good, from artwork to cars to houses. If you bought it, it's yours to resell however you want. |
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Emerje
Posts: 7393 Location: Maine |
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They don't have a law for it, but they don't have a specific law against it that I could find either. There are a lot of used book, game, and collectible stores in Japan, I'm sure they know what they're doing.
That's entirely different because laws allow for repairs and upgrades on personal property as well as the production of replacement parts, both original and aftermarket. Doing so doesn't interfere with their resale. Mass producing customs of an intellectual property is illegal pretty much everywhere. Emerje |
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Cecilthedarkknight_234
 Posts: 3820 Location: Louisville, KY |
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japan really needs a 1st sale doctrine in their law books.
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Emerje
Posts: 7393 Location: Maine |
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It had nothing to do with first sale, it was a mass produced custom, those aren't legal pretty much anywhere. Emerje |
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