Kurosawa films and copyright suit

[Mark Nornes]

Thanks for the enlightening post, Aaron. Of course, my initial post  
was merely a plot to inspire this response, since I know you've been  
following this closely. I find it fascinating, while confirming why I  
have little patience for studying copyright!

> The old law states that films "with originality" are to be treated  
> differently from those without originality.

I read this and immediately thought of auteur theory. More  
specifically, it makes me wonder if there were intersections with the  
rhetoric about the shutaisei of the director playing into this in  
1970-1. It wouldn't be surprising.

What word are they using for "originality." (I'm hoping it's  
orijinaruchii!)

> Or is Toho audacious enough to claim copyright revenues even as they  
> assert the film is an original creation of an author? One wonders  
> whether it will not take just one lawsuit by a former director's  
> estate to open the Pandora's box.

On the contrary, I suspect one of Toho's motives is to tamper down any  
other potential rivals to its archive simply because distributors  
don't want to risk lawsuits....lawsuits to defend themselves, OR  
lawsuits to challenge Toho and stir things up (the Pandora's Box  
theory).

Markus