Forum - View topicNEWS: Funimation Serves Akadot With Cease & Desist
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.Sy
Posts: 1266 |
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Well I've been wondering if any North American companies sold Fullmetal Alchemist soundtracks, but until this gets sorted out, I guess I'll have to wait. I hope the situation doesn't get too messy.
Wow when did we get a font color menu on the forums? |
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Kiyoko
 Posts: 131 Location: Pennsylvania |
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This article was a bit confusing to me.. and a bit worrisome as I'm a huge FMA fan..
I'm in no way a legal expert, but just using a bit of common sense - if the CD's are legit and made by Aniplex, then I shouldn't think that Funimation would have a case against them. It would be like 4Kids sueing Konami/Toei for selling Japanese YuGiOh products even if they were made by the creators themselves. It doesn't make sense. O_o There is no law against importing and selling legitimate items as long as they're not like.. weapons of mass destruction. Is it possible Funimation is going to try and corner the FMA market so that the only merchandise we are able to buy are the domestically released items? |
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GATSU
Posts: 15567 |
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Miramaxe also sued people selling legal imports of Shaolin Soccer and Hero. Conglomerates blow.
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appleturbo
Posts: 51 |
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From my understanding of the article that's pretty much it. Funimation says they have the exclusive copywright that the only FMA CD's that can be sold in the US is theirs. If you buy a legit CD from Japan and then try to see that said CD you are breaking their exclusive copyright to sell their version. I believe this is the same BS that Harmony Gold tried to pull with the Macross Toys. It sucks but welcome to the world of lawyers and copyrights. |
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Kiyoko
Posts: 131 Location: Pennsylvania |
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Interesting.
Another thing I noticed after re-reading the article. I noticed they mentioned the movie soundtrack was asked to be removed as well. I assume this would mean that Funimation has secured the licensing to the movie? (Not that they probably wouldn't have gotten it anyway, it's just no announcement has yet been made.) |
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poweranime
Posts: 51 Location: Los Angeles |
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lol... this sorta reminds me of the quarky lil brat taht when given a toy, he'd huddle in a corner and proclaim over and over again to himself and all around him that 'Its MINE, MINE!' getting very agressive to anyone else who'd try and touch it... very selfish, very Golum...
haven't they realized that anime is a GLOBAL market? I hope this is just a misunderstanding and just a one-time thing. To take out import goods from Japan from the anime market is like gutting the true essence of anime fandom. I mean, what speaks better for anime fan's appreciation for the art than getting stuff about an anime straight from Japan? For me, its like owning a piece of that anime's history from its 'motherland'. |
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hooliganj
 Posts: 113 Location: Longhorn Central |
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The question here is one of resale, not purchasing. Funimation is claiming that a US based store like Akadot cannot import goods and resell them for a profit without violating their exclusive rights in North America. It's a tricky legal question, I think, but there is a legitimate argument.
You, as a consumer, are free to purchase Japanese goods from the original creators or any Japanese store willing to ship it to you. |
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Pat Payne
Posts: 45 Location: Los Angeles, CA |
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Not quite the same bullplop as with HG. There, they're still embroiled in a legal battle with the Japanese rightsholder (or, more technically, one of them, at least) and so are trying to hold themself up as not merely someone who owns a license, but that they own the property lock, stock, and GU-11 barrel outside of the Japanese Archipelago. IIUC, Funimation is not positioning itself to claim supreme ownership of FMA outside of Nippon, they're just being dicks. But where does this leave stores like Kinokuniya or Asashiya, who have brick-and-mortar outlets in the US and do do a brisk business in Japanese CDs and R2 DVDs? |
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Aka-san
Posts: 37 |
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That's whom I told Funi to talk to. Since some of the CDs we bought came right down the street from a US branch of a major Japanese store. Last edited by Aka-san on Fri Nov 11, 2005 5:07 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Bell02
 Posts: 168 |
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I'm confused, (I know I haven't bought any anime soundtracks in years, but) I thought Sony Music Entertainment had the rights to the japanese sound track to Fullmetal Alchemist? What's Aniplex? Is that Sony?
If it is.. to be honest, japanese CDs do say for sale in Japan only. |
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Drewpy83
Posts: 10 Location: Green Bay,WI |
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Okay, I can understand where Funimation is coming from, they payed a lot of money for the FMA license and they do deserve to corner the market, they payed for it!
My only problem is who they are targeting. I think they should not worry so much about akadot because they had legit CD's, and focus on taking on stores who sell bootlegs of the CD's. So I can agree with Funi on cornering the market, but they are hitting the wrong people first. |
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Nobuyuki
Posts: 536 |
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Yes, it was a name change for their Sony Music Entertainment division. |
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halo
Posts: 356 |
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That isn't true. If FUNimation truely has a contract for the exclusive sales rights in a particular country/region then no one is legaly allowed to sell the product there. Aniplex themselves would not legaly be allowed to since they would have signed those rights away. But, iirc, there are ex post facto laws. They might be allowed to sell the remainder of their stock if it was purchased and put on sale before FUNimation had these rights, but I would assume FUNimation had these rights long before they announced them. The really stupid part is the fact that there really isn't that many people importing soundtracks from Japan since they're so @#*&! expensive. It is mostly collectors looking for the original product. When toy look at the dozens of sites offering BitTorrent downloads of the same soundtracks you have to wonder what the hell FUNimation is thinking. I suggest that anime fans write FUNi a polite letter* explaining that if they pull some jacked-up crap like this again they'll be facing a boycott. *Written letters aren't as redily ignored as email. Address them to FUNimation Entertainment, Ltd. 6851 NE Loop 820 4th Floor Fort Worth TX 76180 |
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ACDragonMaster
 Posts: 405 |
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Wait a sec... they claim that those three CDs were acquired before Funi announced that they had rights to the series. However, one of the three CDs listed is the movie soundtrack. The movie wasn't even announced until sometime after Funi had announced the lisence, and the OST didn't come out until this summer. So something's inconsistant here, as there's no way they could've gotten that CD before Funi announced that they had the series.
Generally the FMA fan community considers the movie to be lisenced, I would presume that either there's still details being worked out, or perhaps the Japanese company doesn't want to make it final yet, or something. You never know with these things. However, Funimation *is* the only company who owns a lisence to the anime in the US, and I guess that could by extension include merchandise related to the movie. But either way, the move OST just happens to be one of the CDs, it doesn't necessarily mean anything. |
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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Boycott away halo, enjoy, but I'll still buy the titles I'm interested in and I'm not going to throw a fit because Funi is protecting property they paid no small sum for based on one minor article with minimal facts and quotes that are little more than corporate posturing on both sides.
Chances are if Funi made such a move they have a legitimate reason for doing it or believing it should be done. The fact you don't understand what you're thinking doesn't mean much since the majority of people these days don't truly understand the business world as much as they like to think they do. There's marginal information out there at this point and it has only just begun. At this point you have Funi making a claim and Akadot trying to villainize them and virtually no information to truly back up either side. But with the anime fanbase villainizing an american licensor is no difficult task so I have no doubt Funi will receive alot of angry letters from people who don't actually wait for the facts. |
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