US publisher “calls dibs” on Japanese fighting game IP in original creator’s absence, asserts ownership even within Japan 

San Francisco-based publisher eigoMANGA published a statement on May 21 claiming that it “holds the exclusive trademark and copyright rights” to the Vanguard Princess IP in the US, as well as “recognized ownership rights in Japan.” However, the legitimacy of these claims has been brought into question. 

Vanguard Princess is a 2D fighting game developed by Japanese solo developer Tomoaki Sugeno (nicknamed SUGE9) and released as freeware in 2009. Publisher eigoMANGA released a paid English version of the game in 2012 for the North American and European regions. However, as Game*Spark points out, Sugeno himself never mentioned the English version of the game on his now abandoned dev blog and eigoMANGA has not provided any clear evidence of receiving permission to publish the game or sharing profit with Sugeno.  

Furthermore, in May last year, eigoMANGA lodged a public request seeking out the contact information of Vanguard Princess’s copyright holder with Japan’s CRIC (Copyright Research and Information Center), which contradicts the company’s previous statements about “having a “working relationship” with Sugeno. And despite supposedly having no direct line to Sugeno, a year later, eigoMANGA claims to be the IP’s sole owner in both the US and Japan.  

In the announcement, the publisher cites its official trademark registration with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and claims that in Japan, its ownership has been established through “rulings by the Agency for Cultural Affairs,” thus establishing it as the rightful copyright holder. This likely refers to Japan’s copyright arbitration system, which allows you to lawfully use copyrighted works in place of direct permission from the rightsholder by obtaining a ruling from the Agency for Cultural Affairs and depositing a usage fee. 

However, receiving permission to use an IP through the arbitration system does not mean having the rights transferred to you, as Game*Spark confirmed with Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs. As such, it’s not clear why eigoMANGA is using this ruling to assert that they’re the legitimate copyright holders of Vanguard Princess in Japan, especially as they threaten to take legal action against other parties that attempt to use the IP. Given the circumstances, eigoMANGA’s ownership appears to be merely self-proclaimed.