A subcontracting production company has paid a total of about 450 million to King Records (Tokyo) affiliated with Kodansha, saying that the production cost of the TV animation “Tokyo BABYLON 2021” was scheduled to start broadcasting in April has not been paid. He filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court for payment of yen. Regarding this work, a copy of the character design was pointed out, and the broadcast was canceled in March.
The lawsuit was filed by “GoHands,” an animation production company for television and theaters (GH, head office, Osaka City ). The complaint was filed on the 3rd.
According to the complaint, GH undertook the production of the work from King and delivered 13 episodes by the end of November last year. The total production cost of 314.6 million yen was scheduled to be paid in installments from December of the same year to August of this year. However, he claimed that the contract was unilaterally canceled in January after the first payment. In addition to the remaining 281.6 million yen, although no formal contract has been signed, we are requesting payment of 171.82 million yen for the 14 to 21 episodes that we have agreed with King and started production. ..
Regarding the work, it was pointed out on the net that the character design drawn by GH and pre-released in November last year resembles the costume of a Korean idol group. In December, the production committee made by King and others announced that there was a copy. “We will try to prevent a recurrence,” but in March of this year, we announced that production would be discontinued due to “lack of trust with the production company.”
GH claimed that King had requested a design revision even after the copying turmoil and agreed to work on the broadcast, but King’s policy changed and the rest of the payment was refused. is doing. “We have not received the complaint, so we will refrain from commenting,” King said in an interview.
According to Tomonori Sugo, a lawyer on the plaintiff’s side, it is widely practiced to refer to existing designs in animation production, but there is no problem with copyright law by comparing the drawn picture with the reference. It is said to confirm whether or not. This time, the person in charge of this work at GH was absent due to a sudden illness, and confirmation was not sufficient.
Attorney Sugo said, “It’s true that I made a mistake, and I’m sorry to the fans. However, I was in the process of making corrections at the request. It’s a much smaller company than King, and it’s very economical. I’m being hit. ” It also points out that it is also a payment delay prohibited by the Subcontract Act.
Source – Asahi (Kyōta Tanaka)
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