Four individuals under investigation for producing unauthorized copies of production materials for the popular anime Strike Witches, which accentuates the darker side of collecting.

EDITORIAL

With nearly 10 million yen in the balance, four men in their 20s are accused of copyright infringement by making 472 copies of production art materials from the popular anime Strike Witches.

As reported by TBS NEWS, among those referred to prosecutors is a 28-year-old man from Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo. They are suspected of violating copyright law by storing internal materials from the production of the anime “Strike Witches” without permission from four companies, including major publishing company KADOKAWA, which holds the copyright. It is estimated that they made 472 unauthorized copies over approximately eight months starting from October 2019.

The individuals, all graduates of the same university, are accused of illegally copying internal production documents and selling them online. Over the span of four years, they allegedly produced 2,179 unauthorized copies, resulting in sales of around 10 million yen. One of the suspects, the 28-year-old man, has denied the charges, while the other three have confessed.

During the investigation, internal data related to the production of hundreds of anime works was discovered on confiscated computers.

KADOKAWA has stated, “We will address this issue with firm determination.”

As a long-time production artwork collector, hearing news like this really upsets me because I know the larger impact that actions like these have on the overall hobby, and it is one of the main reasons why studios actively destroy production materials once they’re finished with them. This means that original artwork is literally shredded before it can reach the hands or even eyes of actual collectors, which is an absolute shame and may very well be a thing of the past. Although owners of original production artwork do not actually own the copyright to the image or even character, studios and IP holders didn’t seem all that concerned that production materials made their way to the general public to be sold, bought, and re-sold in a almost eternally revolving door.

I personally own hundreds of animation cels and probably hundreds more original paper sketches, douga and genga, and although I can claim personal copyright to the specific images that I create from them, things like scans and such, I still do not own the copyright to the characters or series that they come from. So, technically, the studios could come to all of us and ask us not to make scans and upload them online. But they don’t. In my 20+ years of collecting, I have never once heard of an instance in which a company actively went after a collector for posting scans from their shows.

That’s why it’s super sad when people knowingly try to make money by copying original production materials with the intention of selling them online, sometimes multiple times over, for an easy buck. In that case, I’d absolutely be on the side of the copyright holders who are asking for compensation from these people who have engaged in such illegal activities that not only affect the industry but also the entire hobby at large. I only hope that the hobby of collecting original production materials doesn’t entirely die out because of these occurances.

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• TBS NEWS DIG
• TBS NEWS DIG – Official Twitter