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Hello BC readers, it’s been a while. I’ve been off working on comics (The Freeze Vol 1 trade from Image Comics/Top Cow is in stores now…) but after
Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Allegory, Comics, Lions Gate, Speed Racer, Tatsunoko
Speed Racer Rights Revert To Tatsunoko After Lawsuit Settled
The rights to Speed Racer had become a bit of a mess in the last couple of years but now that a lawsuit has been dismissed, all the rights go back to Anime studio Tatsunoko Production.
The settlement states that the agreement with the American licensing company Speed Racer Enterprises expired on May 31, 2011. All rights revered to Tatsunoko as of that date and any licensing agreement must be made through them.
In the lawsuit Tatsunoko accused SRE of exploiting the license after it had expired and sought $1 million in damages. The original 10 year agreement between the two companies was signed in 2000 and a one year extension was granted. They allege that SRE continued to exploit those rights and that they sub-licensed the right to Lions Gate and Toonz Entertainment.
One month after the license had expired, SRE signed a deal with Allegory, LLC to produce comic books. Production of Speed Racer: Circle of Vengeance was halted as of November. Allegory paid a large advance to SRE at that time. They are now submitting a proposal to Tatsunoko for the rights to continue the series.
It will be interesting to see how this all works out in the end.
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