1971: Film director loses copyright 43/43

●Hiroshi Harada
In scenario contests, it says "All copyrights of winning works belong to our company."
Does this mean that the author's copyright will be lost?

●Takezawa Tetsuo, Attorney
There are two types of copyrights: property rights and personal rights.
Property rights can be bought, sold, and transferred.
However, personal rights should not be transferable.　*1

In film works, property rights belong to the "製作者(Production company) with the 衣 on," but personal rights and the right to maintain the integrity belong to each rights holder.


●A robot anime director
This is about selling videos of anime.
I've been trying to get my rights for a few years now, and I've asked Tokuma Japan, the production company, for 1.75% royalties for director's rights, excluding production costs, as stipulated by the Directors Guild of Japan.

Recently, I've been asking them to pay me royalties from the beginning, rather than paying me royalties after production costs have been paid.
I'm also asking them to reduce my director's fee, so that the money can be used for my rights.　 *2
Now, for original videos, I request the three rights of script, director, and character design, and I ask the production company to give me at least 1.75% each, and 5% for all three.
Even so, it's still far less than the 8-10% royalties for manga and publications.
I also directly talk to sponsors and ask for the rights when I draw up the first contract.
My director's fee will be reduced, but I think it's fine because I'll get the rights fee to make up for it.
In my case, those negotiations are gradually succeeding.

It's really important for each person to have the courage to talk to companies about such things.
Currently, I'm planning to get 1.75% for director's rights for my next work.
When each director and character designer talks to sponsors, if they talk about rights, they can win.

Don't be shy. Don't be quiet. It won't hurt to speak up.
I think the whole industry will change if everyone speaks about these issues directly to companies.



*The designated time for renting the venue has passed, so this study session has ended here.

(END)

*1 In recent years, Japanese capitalists (such as the president of Japanese SNS Mixi) have sometimes made the mistaken claim that "Moral rights also belong to companies." People who are not knowledgeable may be deceived. Therefore, we need to monitor these phenomena as well.

However, in today's Japan, even if a person's moral rights are violated, it is often virtually impossible to resolve the matter through a lawsuit, etc. If an individual attempts to resolve a case against a company with huge capital through a lawsuit, there are huge risks, such as time and money involved.

*2 When George Lucas directed the first Star Wars, he acquired the merchandising rights from the film company in exchange for a low director's fee.

There are now 64 posts about labor unions.
https://kiyubaru.exblog.jp/i38/
"MIDORI" was produced in Harada's spare time while he was working to make a living, but please keep in mind that he also produced the work while taking part in labor union activities and civic movements.