Fangda has successfully helped Tsuburaya Productions to affirm its legitimate copyright over the Ultraman character used in the “Dragon Force: So Long Ultraman” animation movie. The case, which has been ongoing for five years, involved Tsuburaya bringing a claim against Guangzhou Blue Arc Animation Media Co., Blue Arc Culture Communication Co., and Guangzhou Blue Magic Culture Communications Co, Le Vision Pictures (Beijing) Co., and other defendants.

Tsuburaya Productions is a Japanese special effects studio founded in 1963. The studio is best known for producing the Ultra Series.

In 2017, Tsuburaya Productions Co. started an action against the makers and distributors of the “Dragon Force: So Long Ultraman” movie, which used the Ultraman character in breach of copyright. Ultraman was both one of the key characters in the movie and the focus of the movie’s publicity. BlueArc Animation Studios claimed that it obtained the license for Ultraman’s image based on an alleged 1976 Agreement.

Tsubaraya Productions always maintained that this alleged 1976 agreement was a forgery and that it has never entered into any agreement in English with a Thai businessman in 1976. The dispute went to litigation in a number of countries. The forgery was confirmed in court cases in Thailand and the US, but initially the Chinese courts found in favor of the defendants.

Tsuburaya Productions was then counselled by Fangda to safeguard and protect its interests. The Fangda team conducted a comprehensive examination of the copyright issue of Ultraman series, clarified all legal relationships and finally ended the five-year litigation by winning the case at first and the second instance.

The Fangda team was led by our Intellectual Property Partners Hans She and Devan Shao and Japanese Practice Partner Haiping Sun, and the team included Counsel Xiaote Jin and associates Andy Zhu and Echo Qin.