TL;DR, your argument is blatantly fictive.
One of the major flaws in your argument is your incorrect belief that Bandai "bought" Sunrise in 1994 and became owner of the Gundam IP itself.MythSearcher wrote: ↑Fri May 12, 2023 3:54 am The best I can find are the trademark registrations, out of the 120 Gundam trademarks: https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/s0100 (you will have to do the search yourself)
only 15 of them are filed by Sunrise, and others by Sotsu as the owner.
If that were true (and it is not), every Gundam work produced after that point would not be ©Sotsu/Sunrise but ©Bandai. After all, the Intellectual Property rights to a property are the primary rights conferred by the ownership of the copyright. Yet as we see from the shows produced after that point:
- Mobile Fighter G Gundam ©1994 Sunrise Inc.
- New Mobile Report Gundam Wing ©1995 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team ©1995 Sunrise Inc.
- After War Gundam X ©1996 Sunrise Inc.
- New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz ©1997 Sunrise Inc. (OVA) ©1998 Sunrise Inc. (Movie)
- Turn-A Gundam ©1999 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED ©2002 Sunrise Inc.
- MS IGLOO ©2004 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny ©2004 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 ©2007 Sunrise Inc.
- MS IGLOO 2: the Gravity Front ©2008 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam UC ©2010 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer ©2010 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam AGE ©2011 Sunrise Inc.
- Gundam Build Fighters ©2013 Sunrise Inc.
- Gundam: Reconguista in G ©2014 Sunrise Inc.
- Gundam Build Fighters Try ©2014 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: the Origin ©2015 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans ©2015 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt ©2015 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Twilight Axis ©2017 Sunrise Inc.
- Gundam Build Divers ©2018 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative ©2018 Sunrise Inc.
- Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise ©2019 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway ©2020 Sunrise Inc.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: the Witch from Mercury ©SUNRISE
Also, for the record, Bandai did not "buy" Sunrise in 1994. The Bandai Group purchased a big enough block of stock in Sunrise Inc. to make Sunrise an affiliate company under the Bandai Group's umbrella (note: note Bandai Co. itself, but the Bandai Group). They did not consolidate ownership of Sunrise Inc. until they purchased Sotsu Agency (the other majority shareholder of Sunrise Inc.) on 1 March 2020. Even then, Sunrise Inc. (now Bandai Namco Filmworks) belongs to a different branch of what is now the Bandai-Namco Group than Bandai Co. Ltd. according to the Bandai-Namco Group's own organizational statements. Bandai Namco Filmworks is the head of the IP creation division (as in, they report to nobody but the holding group and everyone in that division reports to them), while Bandai Co. Ltd. is in the Toys & Hobby division.
You ignored what's actually WRITTEN there... which ironically undermines your own argument.MythSearcher wrote: ↑Fri May 12, 2023 3:54 am Business and economic news also share the view that Bandai, or if you prefer the name Bandai Namco, won the copyright war:
That first article on Nikkei is from 2019, and talks not about Bandai Namco Group OWNING the Gundam copyright but controlling it via their acquisition of Sotsu consolidating their control of Sunrise. The other three are the same.
Having majority control of a company does not equate to ownership of that company and its intellectual property. Even having 100% ownership of a company does not transfer ownership of its IP to you directly... you own that IP through ownership of that company. Once you own the company you CAN strip its assets and transfer ownership of its IP to another entity (like yourself), but that demonstrably didn't happen here because even after 2020 new Gundam works are still clearly marked ©Sunrise.
One of the few partially-accurate statements you've made... though you missed a key detail. Gundam Sentinel was commissioned by Bandai Co. Ltd. (who licensed the merchandising rights to Gundam from Sunrise) as a way to promote plamodels. Bandai Co. authorized it using the rights they held under license from Sunrise, though because they failed to do their due diligence and the whole thing ended up being made on verbal agreements alone, actual ownership of the story ended up being disputed between Bandai Co. and Model Graphix, but both acknowledge (and you'll find this clear statement in the official publications made for Gundam Sentinel that Gundam is ©Sunrise/Sotsu Agency.MythSearcher wrote: ↑Fri May 12, 2023 3:54 am Oh, and Sentinel is a very good example. Model Graphix didn't negotiate with Sunrise, they negotiated with Bandai. And as we know it, publications involving canon includes Sentinel, yes, including the ones you like to say "endorsed by Sunrise". That was in 1988, even before Bandai bought Sunrise.
Sunrise is an animation production company, yes.MythSearcher wrote: ↑Fri May 12, 2023 3:54 am Sunrise is an anime company, they don't touch anything non-anime, and Bandai does so for publications, games, etc. They don't send some Sunrise personel to do it for them because they are the major sponsor and have nested interest in the Gundam franchise.
I'm about to explain to you how licensing works.
You see, copyright ownership confers several different categories of rights upon the copyright owner including:
- the exclusive right to produce or authorize the production of derivative works (e.g. sequels, spinoffs, side stories, adaptations).
- the exclusive right to distribute the work worldwide.
- the exclusive right to develop, market, and sell merchandise based on that work worldwide.
Bandai Co. makes Gundam toys and plamodels because they licensed a subset of the merchandising rights to Gundam from Sunrise... specifically the rights to produce those categories of merchandise.
Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Bandai Games) is the same, having licensed the right to produce games based on Gundam.
The publishers of the various mooks, books, and manga are doing so under license from Sunrise as well... with the exception of doujinshi writers, who are a grey market.
Sunrise has, as per their own statements and the credits for many such works, dedicated staff from the Sunrise Planning group overseeing the work of licensees and determining what content is permissible and what is not. That same group are also the ones who determine what works are, or are not, a part of the official Gundam setting, as per Sunrise's own statements on the matter.
If you check, for instance, Gundam Officials, you will notice it may be published by Kodansha... but under the supervision of Sunrise. Not Bandai, Sunrise.