Singer Wins Lawsuit Against Leiji Matsumoto

In March 2007, singer Noriyuki Makihara filed a lawsuit against manga creator Leiji Matsumoto after Matsumoto publicly accused him of plagiarism. Volume 21 of Matsumoto’s Galaxy Express 999 manga contains the lines, “Jikan wa yume wo uragiranai. Yume mo jikan wo kesshite uragiranai.” The 2006 song “Yakusoku no Basho” written by Noriyuki and performed by his pop music group Chemistry includes the lines, “Yume wa jikan wo uragiranai / Jikan mo yume wo kesshite uragiranai.” Both phrases mean “My dream does not betray time, nor does time betray my dream,” but the phrasing is slightly different in the two instances.

Matsumoto, who frequently used the phrase in public speaking appearances, publicly demanded an apology from Makihara. Makihara denied any plagiarism and filed suit, seeking 22 million yen for damage to his reputation. Although the case never went to court, last Friday a judge ruled that, “the two quotes were sufficiently different in meaning” and ordered Matsumoto to pay Makihara 2.2 million yen in damages.

Source: Tokyograph