Tatsunoko Productions

History

In 1982, Tatsunoko produced Super Dimension Fortress Macross, the first in the Super Dimension series. Macross was a project by Studio Nue that was adopted by Bigwest, an advertising agency, which secured broadcast slots for sponsors and commercial broadcasters. However, Nue was not capable of producing animation, so Artland, which was headed by director Noboru Ishiguro, was assigned to produce the series. However, Artland, a subcontractor, was deemed insufficiently capable, and Tatsunoko took over as the prime contractor, placing orders with Artland and its own subsidiary, Anime Friend. Later, however, Bigwest produced a sequel, Super Dimensional Fortress Macross II: Lovers Again, without Tatsunoko or Studio Nue. In response, Tatsunoko signed a contract with Harmony Gold USA without the consent of Bigwest and Nue, resulting in a dispute over intellectual property rights. In Japan, Tatsunoko sued Bigwest and Studio Nue over copyright and won, but conversely lost a lawsuit filed by them over character and mecha design. As a result of the trial, it was decided that Tatsunoko Productions would retain ownership of the film of the work, but that the designs would be shared by Bigwest and Studio Nue. Meanwhile, overseas, Harmony Gold USA, which had obtained the license, adapted and broadcast several Tatsunoko works as a single epic Robotech series depicting different eras and generations in the same world. Bigwest and Harmony Gold had different claims over the rights to the Macross and Robotech series for many years, and Macross was not developed for business worldwide and Robotech in Japan. However, in 2021, the two companies announced an agreement regarding worldwide rights to the Macross and Robotech series from that point forward. This would allow the Macross series to be developed globally and confirmed that Bigwest did not object to the release of a live-action Robotech movie in Japan. In addition, an exclusive worldwide license outside of Japan to use Macross characters and mecha in the Robotech series approved by Tatsunoko for Harmony Gold through 2021 was ratified.