Godzilla is coming for us all!

 

Soon, soon.

Recently there's been an interesting development, a Japanese man from Osaka was arrested for selling bootleg DVDs. Okay, given how strict Japan's IP laws are, that isn't particularly interesting. Except, that one of the DVDs was a colourised version of the original Godzilla movie, released in 1954.

Again, since that movie is owned by Toho, Japan's Disney analogue an arrest isn't surprising either. But because it went to court and a sentence was given, it gave some much-needed clarity to a grey area in Japanese copyright law.  

 

Ippei Miyamoto, a part-time worker in the Osaka city of Toyonaka, has admitted to the allegation, according to investigative sources.

Miyamoto is suspected of selling a DVD copy of the 1954 film, copyrighted by Toho, for ¥2,980 in mid-November last year.

According to police sources, he allegedly used image conversion software to colorize old black-and-white films and created pirated DVDs, which he sold on flea market websites and his own website.

Japan Times 

If you remember when I wrote about Kurosawa, I mentioned that Japan currently has two overlapping copyright terms for its 20th century cinematic output. An older statute that set terms of protection for movies at 38 years after the passing of its director, and a newer one that lasts for 70 years after publication. But since both were upheld by Japan's court system, it was difficult to work out the terms of protection for many of Japan's older movies. 

Until today, while I am against the arrest and probable prosecution of Ippei Miyamoto, I am glad at least that in forming a case against him the police have answered that question. In order to mount a case for copyright infringement, they had to prove that the work in question was still under copyright. The case against Miyamoto states that since the Director of Godzilla Ishiro Honda died in 1993 the copyright on the film and all of Honda's other directed works expires in 2031. So, on the 1st of January 2031, Godzilla will enter the public domain in Japan, and all other territories that have the law of shorter term. Which includes the nation I live in, but does not include many nations, including the United States of America.

 I won't gloat, 6 years is a long time and there's still time for some copyright "reform" that will favour Toho keeping control for even longer. That's happened a lot in recent years.