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Shuho Sato, the writer of "Burakku Jyakku ni Yoroshiku," which commonly translates to “Say Hello to Black Jack,” is planning to make the award-winning, 10 million copy selling manga available for free “second use.”
This means that after Sept 15, anyone in the world will be free to novelize, televise, create merchandise, or in any way adapt the original work for either commercial or non-commercial purposes without having to pay royalties. This is the latest move in the writer’s quest to find alternatives to the “outdated” model of intellectual property rights.
Earlier this year Sato had severed ties with the original publisher of the Say Hello to Black Jack series and put the works on his own web publishing site MangaonWeb. Details are yet to be confirmed but Sato is saying that he will not relinquish his copyright, but that he will not enforce it for an indefinite time.
“The traditional model of making profit by holding onto a copyright is gradually going stale” he said. “I want to explore the possible benefits to authors beyond this system.” Around the same time from Sept 20 to Oct 2, Sato will put his work on display at the pixiv Zingaro in Tokyo. A copy machine will be on hand for the exhibit for visitors to replicate whatever they want.
This subject matter is nothing new for Sato. “Black Jack” is an homage to Osamu Tezuka’s rogue surgeon who charges people not on their medical needs but on the contents of their characters. Say Hello to Black Jack (better translated to the less popular title, Give My Regards to Black Jack) is a more gritty portrayal of a medical student wrestling with the conflicting ethics and business of being a doctor.
Fan translations are available on the Internet and after Sept 15, they should become much easier to find without the threat of copyright infringement. When it does come out in the open, I highly recommend it, it’s an excellent story. And please support Shuho Sato in his effort to find a fair system for content users and creators alike.
Source: MangaonWeb via IT Media News (Japanese)
© RocketNews24
9 Comments
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AlternateUniverse
Respect. This man has made his money and is not being a greedy immature intellectual property rights abusing George Lucas about his creations.
Good on you Mr. Sato!
Ninoh
Great idea but........
Lowly
mrmalice
click mangaonweb above.
On the left side of the page will be a string of "Say hello to Black Jack" Links. (The top several are"the NEW say hello to blackjack", the bottom several are the old one).
The kanji 第１巻 would be volume one. Pick a volume, click.
Next is tricky. You will get a spiral notebook image. On the left page near the top there is a link above small print that says 228 ページ, 228 pages, or however many. Click it, and next click either 読む or 試し読み、whichever comes up. 試しmeans just a sample.
saidani
This sets a great example for Japan's younger generations which will need to find such innovative thinking in many aspects of life here if they are to thrive in the future. The actions over the past two or three generations have left them in a bad situation which can not be solved by the current system and mindset. Hopefully, this will spur others to push the envelop of the status quo.
Kanade
This is a great idea but for not so popular mangaka would that be an option? You can do that when it's an award-winning series, but what if you just draw minor... let's say, shoujo stories? But on the other hand, it's one of those ways of ealing with internet piracy, so it's not a bad idea. I wonder if anyone's gonna follow his example. I bet only male mangaka would. But I don't think Naruto or Bleach-type of manga would ever do that.
JohnBecker
I believe that intellectual property rights are still important, but I applaud Sato-san for relinquishing them when he feels he has no more need of them.
lostrune2
He already has money - he can afford to give it away.
Now let's see if some poor upstarts could do the same thing...................
mrmalice
eeh ... the link to the website is very nice but i dont read kanji so i'm having a hard time finding the actual link there ... someone halpz ?
Lowly
One artist trying something. Interesting, but not necessarily a movement does it make. The Greatful Dead has let anybody copy their shows and exchange copies since before the internet or digital recording. One or two other bands have too, but no-one else. In the old days bards wrote their own songs, and reworked classical standards and local folk songs. Often the bards names were not recorded, and it was all everyone's music to perform.
These days it is not honor and loyalty but capital and ownership that define our world.