ANN reports that a lawyer named Masatoshi Uchida is accusing Hideo Iura's manga Bengoshi no Kuzu of plagiarizing a novel he once wrote:

Tokyo lawyer Masatoshi Uchida has accused Hideo Iura's Bengoshi no Kuzu (Scum of Lawyers) manga of plagiarism and petitioned the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday to ban sales of Shogakukan's Big Comic Original magazine. (Big Comic Original has been serializing the Bengoshi no Kuzu manga since 2004.)

Via: MangaBlog

A round up of the new comic release list and views for the week of February 13th 2008:

• ComicList: ComicList for 02/13/2008
• MangaCast: New Manga Release List ~ Feb 13, 2008
• Manga Recon: Weekly Recon, 2/13/08
• Precocious Curmudgeon: Upcoming 2/13/2008

From BdZoom comes the top 15 "Bandes Dessinées" (French-style comic books) for the week ending 2/13:

1. Astérix (12)
2. Les Schtroumpfs (26)
3. Lanfeust des étoiles (7)
4. Jeremiah (28)
5. L'histoire secrète (10)
6. XIII (19)
7. XIII (18)
8. Merlin (9)
9. La quête de l'oiseau du temps : avant la quête (2)
10. Les femmes en blanc (30)
11. Bunker (2)
12. Lou ! (4)
13. W.E.S.T. (3)
14. Donjon monsters (12)
15. Le complexe du chimpanzé (2)

Top 10 manga (2/13) according to Tohan:

1. Naruto (41)
2. Bleach (32)
3. Katekyo Hitman Reborn! (18)
4. Gintama (22)
5. Eyeshield 21 (28)
6. Tegami Bachi (3)
7. Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro (15)
8. Dr. Koto Shinryojo (22)
9. Bartender (10)
10. Hatsukoi Limited (1)

Additional Rankings:

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From About.com:Manga comes an interview with Patrick Macias, the editor in chief of Otaku USA magazine, and Izumi Evers, Patrick's partner in jaPRESS, (a creative management company that brought Fumiyo Kouno's Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms and Junko Mizuno's Pure Trance to U.S. via Last Gasp).

The interview covers Patrick and Izumi's behind-the-scenes story about how they brought Town of Evening Calm to the U.S., how they wrote Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno, Patrick's work on Otaku USA and their upcoming "top secret" manga
project:

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Del Rey Manga has announced a new contest based on Hiro Mashima's manga Fairy Tail:

Ascend to manga heaven. Be the first to read Fairy Tail. E-mail us, and if you're selected, you'll win an advance copy of the book. There's just one catch: You have to write in and tell us what you think!

Send your emails to delreymanga@randomhouse.com with FAIRY TAIL in the subject line, including your full name and address in the body of the e-mail (NOTE: your personal information will not be used for any purpose other than this contest). Ten (10) lucky winners will be selected at random and will receive a copy of the book when it is published. All submissions must be received by Wednesday, February 27, 2008.

Media Factory's monthly manga magazine Comic Flapper is celebrating its 100th issue by relaunching the magazine with all-new content, featuring series from several famous mangaka in the next few issues:

March (100th) issue (2/5):

• Starting:
  - Christie High-Tension (new story arc) by Kaoru Shintani

• Ending:
  - Qwan by Aki Shimizu

April issue (3/5):

• Starting:
  - One-shot by Masaomi Kanzaki

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According to Del Rey Manga's February Newsletter, Del Rey's Editor-in-Chief Betsy Mitchell will be attending the Inc. Conference, which takes place from March 27th - 30th in New York City:

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According to Yaoi Press, its Yaoi Hentai series will be replaced with a new line of yaoi books called Happy Yaoi Yum Yum.

Also, YaoiSuki announces the winners of its Yaoi Press Suki 2008 contest.

Source: Icarus Blog

Anime/manga/otaku blog Japanator has relaunched its website with a new design, and Giapet.net has a review.