Toho sues Cosmo over Kurosawa DVDs

According to Variety, Toho has thrown a $1.2 million lawsuit at Cosmo Coordinate that manufactured and sold budget versions of Kurosawa’s DVDs until the court ruling last year degreed that Toho still owns the copyrights to the works Kurosawa filmed for the company.

Cosmo had contested Toho’s copyright claim pointing out that based on the 1971 law change, Japanese copyright protects works for 50 years after release, therefore making every Kurosawa film made more than half a century ago out of copyright. The court’s decision, however, was that copyright for movies made under the old pre-1971 copyright law is calculated based on the old law, which extends copyright to 38 years after the creator’s death.

Based on Cosmo’s manufacturing an estimated 160,000 DVDs, Toho is now seeking $1.2 million (120 million yen) in damages.