{"id":48218,"date":"2025-05-22T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=48218"},"modified":"2025-05-21T17:19:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T08:19:57","slug":"us-publisher-calls-dibs-on-japanese-fighting-game-ip-in-original-creators-absence-asserts-ownership-even-within-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/us-publisher-calls-dibs-on-japanese-fighting-game-ip-in-original-creators-absence-asserts-ownership-even-within-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"US publisher \u201ccalls dibs\u201d on Japanese fighting game IP in original creator\u2019s absence,\u00a0asserts ownership even within Japan\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>San Francisco-based publisher eigoMANGA published a statement on May 21 claiming that it \u201cholds the exclusive trademark and copyright rights\u201d to the <strong>Vanguard Princess<\/strong> IP in the US, as well as \u201crecognized ownership rights in Japan.\u201d However, the legitimacy of these claims has been brought into question.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">eigoMANGA Confirms Full IP Rights to Vanguard Princess Across the U.S. and Japan <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lHgVBbDJbm\">pic.twitter.com\/lHgVBbDJbm<\/a><\/p>&mdash; eigoMANGA (@eigoMANGA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/eigoMANGA\/status\/1924908274979373477?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 20, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Vanguard Princess is a 2D fighting game&nbsp;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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespark.jp\/article\/2025\/05\/21\/152852.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Game*Spark<\/a> points out, Sugeno himself never mentioned the English version of the game <a href=\"http:\/\/suge9.blog58.fc2.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">on his now abandoned dev blog<\/a> and eigoMANGA has not provided any clear evidence of receiving permission to publish the game or sharing profit with Sugeno. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"955\" height=\"716\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 955px) 100vw, 955px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250521-48218-002-1.jpg\" alt=\"Vanguard Princess\" class=\"wp-image-48222\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250521-48218-002-1.jpg 955w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250521-48218-002-1-380x285.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250521-48218-002-1-768x576.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, in May last year, eigoMANGA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cric.or.jp\/c_search\/doc\/search2405_eigomanga.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lodged a public request seeking out the contact information<\/a> of Vanguard Princess\u2019s copyright holder with Japan\u2019s CRIC (Copyright Research and Information Center), which contradicts the company\u2019s previous statements about &#8220;having a \u201cworking relationship\u201d with Sugeno. And despite supposedly having no direct line to Sugeno,&nbsp;a year later, eigoMANGA claims to be the IP\u2019s sole owner in both the US and Japan. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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 \u201crulings by the Agency for Cultural Affairs,\u201d thus establishing it as the rightful copyright holder. This likely refers to Japan\u2019s copyright arbitration system, which allows you to&nbsp;lawfully use copyrighted works&nbsp;in place of direct permission from the rightsholder by obtaining a ruling from the Agency for Cultural Affairs and depositing a usage fee.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"955\" height=\"716\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 955px) 100vw, 955px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250521-48218-001.jpg\" alt=\"Vanguard Princess\" class=\"wp-image-48221\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250521-48218-001.jpg 955w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250521-48218-001-380x285.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/20250521-48218-001-768x576.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s Agency for Cultural Affairs. As such, it\u2019s not clear why eigoMANGA is using this&nbsp;ruling&nbsp;to assert that they&#8217;re&nbsp;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\u2019s ownership appears to be merely self-proclaimed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>San Francisco-based publisher eigoMANGA claims to be the sole owner of the Vanguard Princess IP, while the original creator is missing in action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":48223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-48218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US publisher \u201ccalls dibs\u201d on Japanese fighting game IP in original creator\u2019s absence,\u00a0asserts ownership even within Japan\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"San Francisco-based publisher eigoMANGA claims to be the sole owner of the Vanguard Princess IP, while the original creator is missing in action.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/us-publisher-calls-dibs-on-japanese-fighting-game-ip-in-original-creators-absence-asserts-ownership-even-within-japan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US publisher \u201ccalls dibs\u201d on Japanese fighting game IP in original creator\u2019s absence,\u00a0asserts ownership even within Japan\u00a0 - 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