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Manga Creator Shuho Sato Loses Lawsuit Against Amazon Over Kindle
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The Tokyo District Court dismissed manga creator Shuho Sato's lawsuit against Amazon International Services, Inc. on Monday, March 30.
Sato had claimed that the company had unfairly ceased offering his works on its Kindle Unlimited subscription service, and sought 200 million yen (about US$1.85 million) in damages.
Sato's manga include Umizaru, Say Hello to Black Jack (a title he declared free from copyright protection after he cancelled his contract with Kodansha), the New Say Hello to Black Jack sequel, and The Isle of TOKKOU World War II manga about Imperial Japanese soldiers in the Army's manned suicide torpedo units.
Umizaru ran in Shogakukan's Weekly Young Sunday magazine from 1999 to 2001, and had 12 volumes. NHK produced two live-action specials in 2002 and 2003, and Fuji TV produced a live-action film in 2004, a live-action series in 2005, a second film in 2006, a third film in 2010, and a fourth film in 2012. The manga centers on the lives of divers in the Japan Coast Guard (called the Maritime Safety Agency when the manga's serialization).
Source: Yomiuri Shimbun
