Anime News

Tohoku Shinsya Loses Sankyo Suit Over Yamato Rights
Date: 1/10/2007
Legal wranglings surrounding the Space Battleship Yamato franchise continue in Japan. Tohoku-shinsha Film Corporation recently lost a litigation case concerning alleged piracy of Yamato collectors cards, PS2 videogames, pachislot machines and animation videos being sold by Sankyo Corporation. TFC was demanding a cease and dessist on equipment, software production and sales related to 'Dai Yamato' and compensation for damages equalling around 500 million Yen. At the heart of the issue was Sankyo's use of characters from original creator Leiji Matsumoto's recent series Dai Yamato and their resemblence to the original SBY characters, the copyright to which is held by TFC. The judgement came down that ex Yamato producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki who entered into a copyright agreement with TFC for the series did not actually posess the legal rights to the copyright. The decision could further adversely affect TFC and Nishizaki's plans to produce a new Yamato anime film which ANS first reported on in a October 2nd, 2006 news entry.
Source: Anime News Service