Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-1395514-20150522155925

from: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/japanese-superhero-caught-film-youtube-797291

In a complaint filed on Tuesday in California federal court, UM Corporation accuses Tsuburaya Productions of posting TV episodes featuring Ultraman on the site, which UMC says violates its licensing deal with Tsuburaya for the rights to the character, and planning further breaches of the deal.

''UMC claims it became in 2008 the exclusive rights holder of some early Ultraman series for use outside Japan. The company transferred the rights to three Ultraman series (Ultraman, UltraSeven and Ultra Q) to the distributor Verdana Entertainment in 2014, states the complaint.''

''When Verdana posted episodes of the series on YouTube, the site's Content ID system (meant to deter infringement) identified other posts of the same episodes, "indicating that [Tsuburaya] is illegally airing entire episodes of the Ultraman works." Tsuburaya then contacted the distributor and demanded it remove the episodes, which it did, fearing a lawsuit from the company.''

''Tsuburaya allegedly warned the distributor it owns the global rights to the Ultraman series. "UMC has since learned that in clear violation of the 1976 Agreement, TPC presently claims ownership to all of the Ultraman works it has uploaded to YouTube in 256 countries worldwide," states the complaint.''

In addition to claiming Tsuburaya is interfering with its contract with Verdana, UMC wants the court to rule it owns the exclusive rights to the Ultraman episodes outside Japan (including for YouTube, which permits content providers to geographically specify where their videos are viewable).

''Part of why UMC wants the rights dispute decided by the court is the company is working on its own Ultraman movie. "UMC has expended money and resources in developing its own derivative Ultraman characters and plans to create a new Ultraman brand based on the Ultraman works,"  states the complaint.''

Thoughts? I really don't have much knowledge on UMC, though this event surely brings back memories of the Tsuburaya Chaiyo dispute.

Oh and yeah, I am back on Ultra Wiki, after two nightmarish and stressful college years I am finally having vacation time and there are some things that need fixing on the site, but I will speak more on that on a blog post between today and tomorrow. 