Licensing rights dispute
Ultraman's licensing rights outside Japan have been the subject of a prolonged legal dispute between Tsuburaya Productions and Chaiyo Productions based in Thailand.[28][29] Tsuburaya had previously collaborated with Chaiyo on the production of two movies, The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army and Jumborg Ace & Giant—the latter of which featured another Tsuburaya superhero, Jumborg Ace—in 1974.[30] Sompote Saengduenchai, founder/president of Chaiyo Productions, claimed and maintained that, in 1976, Noboru Tsuburaya, the son of the late Eiji Tsuburaya, had given him and his company a contract which had given him rights to everything Ultraman outside Japanese territories.[31][32]
In spite of the fact that the document failed to state clearly and specifically exactly what had been given to Tsuburaya in exchange for these rights,[28] Japanese and Thai courts accepted this contract as real and binding because of the supposed hanko of the late Noboru Tsuburaya, who had died in 1995, in the document.[28] Tsuburaya Productions insisted and maintained that the contract was a forgery and repeatedly contested the issue.
After an eight-year battle in the courts of both countries, Sompote Saengduenchai was awarded a favorable decision in 2004.[31][32] Though the Supreme Court of Japan ruled that he owned the international rights to the first six instalments, he would later create three new Ultras: Ultraman Millennium, Dark Ultraman and Ultraman Elite.[33][31][29] On 23 August 2006, Tsuburaya Productions filed a new lawsuit against Chaiyo for copyright infringement and plagiarism (concerning the characters), and the court case was taken to China. The Chinese courts in Beijing opened "The Ultraman Copyright Study Group" in response to the lawsuit.[29] In April 2007, the Thailand Intellectual Property Court ruled in favor of Tsuburaya Productions, ordering Chaiyo to cease and desist making commercial profits from them. The defendants were also fined THB 15,000,000 (approx. JPY 50,904,959 or US$428,673.50 c. April 2007) plus interest and attorneys' fees.[33]
On 5 February 2008, Thailand's Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tsuburaya Productions of Japan after they made an appeal to the initial ruling. The ruling ended the long legal battle by finding Sompote Saengduenchai was not a co-creator of Ultraman.[35][28] The decision ended Sompote's bid to continue his enterprise, and the court gave Sompote 30 days to stop profiteering from Ultraman. The final ruling saw Tsuburaya Productions as the sole copyright owner. Sompote was also required to pay THB 10,700,000 plus interest at the rate of 7.5 percent a year starting from 16 December 1997, when the original lawsuit was filed.[35]
In 2009, the Thai Intellectual Property Court and the Tokyo District Court both ruled in favour of the Thai company.[36][28] This led to the Tokyo District Court on 30 September 2010, ordering Tsuburaya Productions Co. of Japan to pay damages of 16.36 million yen (Bt5.9 million) to Sompote Saengduenchai of Thailand for violating his overseas copyrights on the Ultraman characters.[36]
After the announcement of the film Dragon Force: So Long, Ultraman in July 2017, the dispute on the ownership of the franchise has escalated.[37][28] But on 20 November 2017, through a Los Angeles court ruling by Judge Andre Birotte Jr., Tsuburaya won the lawsuit against Chaiyo and affiliate groups on the rights of the series after the jury concluded that the supposed agreement between Noboru Tsuburaya and Chaiyo was "not authentic".[38][39] Despite UM Corporation and Chaiyo filing a counter-dispute,[40] in April 2018, the legal court came to a definite close where a final judgement states that the dispute and the document was deemed invalid, forbidding UMC to use the Ultra Series and all its related characters and forced them to pay Tsubaraya damages for its infringement of its rights.[41][28]
With the release of the sequel film Dragon Force: Rise of Ultraman, issues between UMC, Bluearc and Tsubaraya had reignited and the company took legal actions against the two companies again.[42] On 10 December 2019, it was confirmed by Tsuburaya that the court has rejected UMC and Bluearc's appeal for a retrial, stating the court's first verdict of regarding the rights and ownership of Ultraman to Tsuburaya is still legitimate and final, and that any future appeals by UMC and Bluearc will likely be rejected.[43] As UMC and Bluearc failed to file a further appeal by 4 March 2020, they were to pay US$4,000,000 (approx. 400,000,000 Japanese yen) in compensatory damages, as well as other various court fees.[44] The resulting victory has reached Thailand as well and the Thai Supreme Court ordered a ruling in favor Tsuburaya Productions as the legitimate copyright owner of the shows listed in the License Granting Agreement alongside ownership over Hanuman vs. 7 Ultraman (and its remake, Hanuman vs. 11 Ultraman) and Jumborg Ace & Giant.[45] Sompote had made an appeal to the court over the decision, but was dismissed.[46] Sompote believes the decision would affect the former two movies' status as national heritage items, and has appealed to both the Supreme Court and Ministry of Culture on that front.[47]
The legal battles with Chaiyo are likely to come to an end, as Sompote Saengduenchai died on 26 August 2021.[48][49]
