Per the official Tokyopop Manga Twitter account, the concern was asked at last weekend’s Anime Expo convention whether Tokyopop would think about returning rights to the creators for the OEL manga (original graphic novels) they are holding onto. The two-part response was
… the creators requirement to find to him to get the rights back. He can’t track them all down. as well as because they all have contracts, there will requirement to be some negotiations. however it’s not like Stu won’t provide rights back at all.
Stu is Stu Levy, owner of the company. Followup Tweets didn’t noise rather so optimistic:
But this is business. If one celebration has partial rights of a residential or commercial property as well as the other celebration wants all the rights… That celebration would purchase the others out. works like that in every other business, no? I understand that seems so insensitive, however we did pay the creators for these works. It’s not as though we got them for free. ^_^;;;;
The smiley deal with there truly makes the message, don’t you think? Without understanding what conditions Stu wishes to impose upon this deal, it’s difficult to identify exactly how major this “offer” really is. If, for example, Stu desired full repayment for all money spent by Tokyopop, including page rate for original creation, I would picture those negotiations wouldn’t go extremely far. Without much more specifics, this appears to be a method to attempt to paper over the bad credibility Levy has with fans without really taking any type of action.
More significantly, an actual OEL developer suggested that this was either a recent modification or a misrepresentation, tweeting
Huh, about 6 months ago, Stu was a blanket “no” when we asked to purchase back rights. This has def changed?
At that point, the Twitter account backed off the claim:
I was under the perception it had yesterday, however certainly you requirement to speak to him directly.
This may be one more unexpected Levy modification of mind that messes up the business, much like his abrupt decision to stop publishing last year. Let’s hope he really implied this one, instead of just stating what he believed the questioner wished to hear.
By the way, a number of fans were dissatisfied that the much-plugged Tokyopop panel at the show didn’t enable any type of time for concerns as well as answers, instead costs time recapping a history of the business as well as Stu Levy’s accomplishments. one more mismatch between fan as well as publisher wants appears to be the company’s wish to continue with film as well as TV projects, such as the disappointing America’s biggest Otaku. fans just want the series they were complying with completed in print.
Update: I just found Stu himself weighed in on his Twitter account:
I have an open door. any type of developer can come talk about w me whenever. Some have; numerous haven’t. I am an always have been a fair partner. Each OEL contract is private as well as if there is a fair proposition we work it out. however please comprehended there are several partners included as well as any type of contract has to think about the interests of each partner.
The several utilizes of the word “fair” are discouraging, because that’s such a nebulous idea in company as well as can’t be quantified. I’m guessing we’re not going to see any type of actual OEL best condition modifications as a result of this.
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