Harmony Gold Looses Rights to Macross

According to a new ruling in Japanese civil court by presiding judge Toshiaki Iimura, the Superdimensional Fortress Macross animation franchise is not the property of distribution company Tatsunoko Productions. The Macross title is actually the property of Big West and Studio Nue, the original creators of Macross. Since it was Tatsunoko that sold the English language translation and distribution rights for Macross to American company Harmony Gold, technically a sale which Tatsunoko had no right to make, Harmony Gold technically has no legal basis for their presumed authority over the Macross franchise in America, and no legal basis for their history of supervisory scrutiny over all things Macross released (or in some cases, not released) in America. Harmony Gold has been responsible for preventing the domestic release of Macross Plus valkyrie toys from Toycom, and was also behind demands that AnimEigo change the spelling of names in their subtitled release of the original Macross television series in America.

This new legal clarification and ongoing legal battle does not effect Harmony Gold’s ownership of Robotech and its inclusive Macross Saga, as Robotech is not really an import series and has no debate over ownership in Japan.

Source: Anime News Network