TOKYO -- The Japanese creator of kiddie TV fave Ultraman is two for three in its court battle against a Thai businessman over rights to series.
A court in Guangdong, China, has ruled in favor of Tsuburaya Prods. in its rights dispute with Sompote Saengduenchai, prexy of Bangkok-based Tsuburaya Chaiyo and Chaiyo Production, who claims to be co-inventor of the series. The Guangdong court issued the first ruling on the case on Oct. 23. A second, final ruling, is expected within 30 days.
So far, Tsuburaya has won similar victories against the defendant in a Thai court and now in China. However, in Tsuburaya's native Japan, the judge sided with Sompote.
At stake are the merchandising, broadcasting and other rights to the Ultraman series outside Japan.
In December 2003 the Tokyo District Court ruled in Sompote's favor. Tsuburaya's appeal was rejected by the Japanese Supreme Court in April 2004.
But in February 2008, the Thai Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tsuburaya, levying a 10.7 million baht ($320,263) fine and ordering Sompote to quit its Ultraman biz.
Sompote claimed that he sealed a deal with Tsuburaya in 1976, giving him rights to early Ultraman characters outside Japan. Tsuburaya filed a suit in Thai copyright court against Sompote in 1997 and challenged a 2000 court ruling that backed Sompote's claim. The case went to the Thai Supreme Court, which found Sompote's 1976 contract, as well his claim to a co-creator of Ultraman, to be invalid.
Ultraman began life as a 1966 live-action show in which Ultraman and his family from the M-78 nebula battle space aliens intent on harming humanity. The original show has since spawned not only TV follow-ups, but toon series and theatrical features. It also generated a character-marketing bonanza that Sompote and his associates shared in Asia, where the franchise thrived for decades.
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