Tsuburaya Sues Chinese Company BlueArc Over Ultraman Rights, Again

Tsuburaya Productions’ decades-long fight to control international Ultraman licensing gained a new chapter in March 2018, as the company filed suit against Guangzhou-based BlueArc over what it characterized as continued copyright infringement.

The dispute connects to the same contested 1967 licensing document at the center of Tsuburaya’s long fight with Chaiyo Productions and UM Corporation, a claim a Los Angeles jury had rejected as inauthentic only months earlier, in November 2017. According to Tsuburaya, BlueArc argued that the company’s decision to withdraw its original suit against BlueArc, despite the separate November win against UM Corporation, amounted to tacit approval of BlueArc’s use of the Ultraman name. Tsuburaya told Japanese outlet NHK that this was not the case and that it intended to pursue legal action.

The renewed dispute followed continued fallout from Dragon Force: So Long, Ultraman, the Chinese animated film that drew public criticism from Ultraman-affiliated actors, including Takeshi Tsuruno, star of Ultraman Dyna, for its unauthorized and antagonistic use of the character. Whether the BlueArc suit would resolve as cleanly as the November 2017 verdict remained an open question at the time of filing.