Upcoming BCI Ultraman DVD is pretty suspicious . . . (1 Viewer)

From http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=159518

And according to BCI they've gone about obtaining the proper licenses to release the material.

Gord

RE:Gord: Carefully read what I posted again.

Gord, all sources close to Tsuburaya Productions say that they have neither been contacted by BCI, nor have they licensed the show to anyone. BCI has contacted a third party source connected with Chaiyo (which is determined to damage Tsuburaya's overseas business, and ultimately, the company itself).

Tsuburaya has the rights to the show, according to the court decision, and still holds on to all original materials for the shows. As I said, they will not license the show until Chaiyo is out of the picture. Refer to the first post.

Bradley Warner from Tsuburaya's LA office (he is also Tsuburaya's overseas marketing consultant) has been aware of the situation, so we'll have to see what develops . . .

I've read that post many times, and according to BCI they've been over court documents that show Chaiyo has rights in North America and was able to license it to them.

Right now we have comments from people not associated with the deal, and comments from BCI which is involved in it. I'm sorry, but I'd have to believe that BCI knows what they're talking about, and probably has had a few lawyers look over the court documents from Japan.

Gord

Then they're not doing a good job at all. Right now, you're only looking at one company's side of the story, instead of doing any extensive research. Tsuburaya has an LA office, for crying out loud! Bradley Warner is in charge of Tsuburaya's international division, and he is gathering information on this whole situation.

I don't know why you don't want to believe me. Perhaps because you're eager to see ULTRAMAN come on DVD, no matter what. Well, that's cool, except that the company that created it, and actually owns it, is at stake right now, because a Thai company wants to steal it from them, when they don't even have the rights to them. Chaiyo only has the rights to broadcasting and home video rights in Thailand only, as well as supporting merchandise outside Japan, for the first 6 Ultra Series, and the Japanese media has covered this. Most of the Thai news seems to be posting Chaiyo's side of the story, and it's all made up. They even go as far to say that Tsuburaya is having financial difficulties, which was false, as Tsuburaya was still going strong, and still producing new Ultraman shows! You have no idea how shady Chaiyo is.

You'll hear some news sooner or later.

John, I could care less about Ultraman. You should have Bradley Warner come and make a post here, or send me a PM with his information and I'll contact him myself.

I spoke with people at BCI today and they approached Tsuburaya in Japan (not LA) and asked to license the product, but were told that they do not have the US rights to the series.

I'd be more than happy to speak to someone about this. Have you spoken with anyone at BCI yourself?

Gord

Gord, please understand. Tsuburaya Productions says that they would never tell anyone that they don't have the home video rights for the US. Additionally, it makes no sense to take one side without listening to the other, so until TPC says something, you're only listening to one side of the argument.

Anyway, for what it's worth, Henshin! Online has conducted an interview with Cliff MacMillan on the DVD release. (You'll have to Google Henshin! Online, as this forum doesn't seem to allow any URL posting, sorry.)

BTW, H!O has more info on Tsuburaya, if you want to contact them. They should help you out.

Here's the interview, guys:

http://www.henshinonline.com

It's on the homepage.

While I'm all geeked up to purchase these releases I think I'll end up boycotting this particular release. I just read that interview and it's upsetting to hear that the original English dubbed track and the original masters of the series, which were switched over to DAT, were returned to Tokyo. This is very distressing that the dubbed track may end up being an inferior copy of the release.

If this release hits, I'll buy it. Because if TPC were able to do anything about it, they will have done it by July, which is the tentative release date for the first set, and it won't come out. In which case, I won't buy it. Profound, eh?

John, if I'm giving a phone number to call to speak to someone about this then I'll call them, I'm not going to dig around for it.

What I see right now is a company that says they have the legal right to release a show, and a group of fans that claim they don't. If BCI has the license to release the show on DVD in the US and the fans trying to block the release are wrong, I don't know what action BCI could take against them.

Why hasn't Tsuburaya Productions already contacted BCI if they own the US rights to the series?

Gord

Gord is right, John. At least give Gord and Dave the resources to get an official statement. Since their site is well known they could very well get an official statement from the company. As far as I'm concerned, if they're releasing a copy of the original series from less-than-mediocre prints I'm definately boycotting the series.

At least, if they're going to release the series they need to hold off until they can get a set of the original masters that TPC has from the original masters and the DAT conversion.

Later today I will be posting an official BCI press release about the Ultraman set. I'll give you guys the heads-up about that right now, because you'll want to know if it addresses this issue. It doesn't. It's brief, and mainly is saying officially that BCI is releasing this show, and names the month to expect release.

Gord and I are continuing to work with BCI in order to get an official statement in regard to the issue that is discussed in this thread. I mainly wanted you all to know that today's news post is not going to be it, and to please spread the word around about that at any other message boards where it's appropriate. I am thinking that I'm not even going to attempt to address this issue at all in today's news, instead just waiting until we have all the pieces in place to write that up correctly, and separately.

Just wanted to let you all know.

Dave, let me be the first to say that it would be appropriate to let everyone know when to expect the set but I wouldn't announce any news past that as it could open up the topic for a lot hot-heads and cuase more problems than it would be worth. The release date would be welcome news but that's where I'd end the news-flash.

Gord, with all due respect, I'm going to be very firm on this. This was all done behind Tsuburaya's back. And right now, while Tsuburaya is gathering info on this situation (they're being extremely careful with how to handle legal situations), they are very tight-lipped about this. John Pannozzi has already posted their side of the story for me. I rest my case.

Guys, I will not argue any more about this. But if any more news comes up on these releases, and if I'm right, then don't say I didn't warn you.

A quick copyright search shows that Ultraman 1966 was never registered for copyright in this country.

Off topic but since the posters in this thread seem to know a lot about mid-60s Japanese shows, which are really the only ones I have any interest in, what is the status of Eighth Man? Gigantor has come out and Astroboy is coming but what about this show from the same era? Who owns it and do the dubbed American versions even still exist?

Actually, copyright searches don't mean anything. What you want to do is to do a search for whoever has the license for the show as a Region 1 release. Technically, the copyright for the series belongs solely and exclusively to Tsuburaya Productions. While Chaiyo may be claiming rights to the series they may only have licensing rights to the series, NOT copyrights to the series.

Please be aware that when a company creates something they apply for the copyright. Only a single entity may obtain a copyright to something. I've never heard of two entities owning the copyright to a creation such as this. While Tsuburaya and Chaiyo may have co-produced some Ultraman titles together (Dave and Gord, correct me if I'm wrong on this) Tsuburaya retains complete copyright to the series since it was Tsuburaya Productions who created the series not Chaiyo.

Copyright Law is different from Licensing as Chaiyo is claiming distribution rights to the release of the series to DVD which Tsuburaya is disputing.

OK, now this I can discuss.


This is true. The copyright to the Ultraman characters and shows have always been recognized as being that of Tsuburaya.

Meanwhile, Pro-Link Co., Ltd., Tsuburaya's official Thai representative (who has the rights in Thailand to the shows from Ultraman Tiga on), is currently handling the case in their own country.

I can answer another question of yours - While Tsuburaya and Chaiyo have indeed only produced two movies together in 1974, only one was Ultraman-related. (The 6 Ultra Brothers Vs. the Monster Army, the other being Jumborg Ace & Giant) This was the only time that Tsuburaya and Chaiyo have ever really worked together.

But the fact is, Tsuburaya is a family business. They are not as powerful as, say, Toho, but they are still a very strong company (which has to this day worked with companies such as Bandai, Panasonic, Vap and others). And you might not believe this, but even now, Ultraman is more popular in Japan than Godzilla (and perhaps always has been). But right now, because of Chaiyo's basically being a parasite in more ways than one, Tsuburaya's legacy is at stake, and they have to be very, very, very careful when handling legal cases like this.

I think the problem with the whole Chaiyo thing is that I don't think their acclaimed rights would stand up too well in the United States. Most of the bootleg material does come from Asian but it's outside of Japan.

I would think that if Tsuburaya decided to press the issue against Chaiyo and BCI's release in a US Court they would have a fair chance of winning suit and halting the release of BCI's product of Ultraman. This is all just speculation but I think it would work this way.