Police have arrested 2 hobbyists, Shibata resident, Keiichi Itō (35) and Sanjō resident, Jun Fujita (36) for the crime of modifying a figure to look like Kamen Rider W's Utopia Dopant, charging them with criminal copyright infringement.
The pair involved with the operation of a Niigata Toy Shop, were found to have modified a figure (to be exact SIC Apollo Geist) into a Custom made S.I.C. (Super Imaginative Chogokin) Utopia Dopant and selling the completed figure in Yahoo! Japan Auctions with a Tokyo resident closing the bid from the other 69 bids and acquiring the figure for ¥270,000 (about US$3,300).Reportedly their work was of exquisite quality and popular with fans of the show – certainly the case considering the quality of the work on display on their website, kenosyokutaku models.
Asides from the said Utopia Dopant, they also did some custom figures of other characters found in the Kamen Rider franchise. Namely, the original seven Kamen Riders (on the right), and the current Kamen Rider, OOO.
The arrest was made because according to the police's announcement, the two men modified a figure into a Kamen Rider W villain character in November without Toei's permission the film company that owns Kamen Rider W's copyrights. They admit the charges, explaining that “As we weren’t making mass manufactured goods but a single hand-made item, we thought they would overlook it.”
Sources: Yomiuri Online via Sankaku Complex (Warning: NSFW), Anime News Network, JEFusion, Kotaku (for the link of the figure used in making the custom fig)
Instead of Bandai hiring these guys in designing their figures, they decided to arrest them just for selling one figure?! I mean, the practice of selling custom made figures has been around for years that even some manga artist are appreciative with the work fans made! Plus, they can use these guys help in making a good prototype of a SHF Shadow Moon figure!
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