News

Kokoro Media reports that a recent copyright ruling in Japan from a victory by JASRAC could have serious consequences on manga scanlation:

If online services for individuals can be shut down because the servers might be storing copyrighted material, then JASRAC [or some other copyright holder] could apply similar pressure to other existing 'personal use’ services such as Yahoo’s Briefcase and Apple’s .Mac.

Via: Journalista

Panini of Brazil has announced its plans to publish numerous new titles in the Brazilian market in the next months. Newly announced licenses include Bleach, Princess Princess, Count Cain, Gantz, Vampire Knight and Blood - The Last Vampire.

The manga will be released in the following order: Blood - The Last Vampire in June at Fest Comix. Bleach and Vampire Knight in July. Princess Princess in August. Count Cain in December. Gantz has not received an official release date yet.

Source: Anime Pro (via Shoujo Cafe)

The Library of Congress has opened a website that aims to teach children the basics of copyright with the help of manga-styled artworks.

Source: animeOnlime

According to PEACH-PIT's latest weblog entry, due to the recent trouble and sudden suspension of Rozen Maiden, volume 8, the manga's final volume, will carry only chapters 41 to 43 and contains no extra artworks.

Source: Canned Dogs

From Trendsspotting (via MangaBlog) comes an article that looks at the popularity of manga downloads in Japan, and whether the trend will spread to the West. Also included is a translation of the survey from Infoplant on manga downloads:

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Tech Shout has published an article looking at how the Singapore-based manga publisher Chuang Yi is teaming up with Sterling Publishers to bring manga to the Indian market. Also included is an interview with Rony Neo, the Chief Operations Officer of Chuang Yi.

From Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog comes an interview with Svetlana Chmakova, who talks about her manga Dramacon.

Via: MangaBlog

Shogakukan's gross sale last February reached 147 billion yen, beating Kodansha by 1.4 billion yen. As a result, Shogakukan has, for the first time ever, overtaken Kodansha as the number 1 publisher in Japan. According to Asahi Shimbun, Shogakukan's success can be attributed to advertising revenue from women's fasion magazines (such as CanCam) and copyright fee.

As for sales of magazines and books, Kodansha still beats Shogakukan by 10 billion yen. However, when counting earnings from other sales such as advertising fee, dividend from movies, and copyright fee, Shogakukan surpasses Kodansha by 11.3 billion yen.

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From Icarus Publishing's blog comes a preview (NSFW) of the adult manga coming out in September 2007, based on Diamond Previews for July (Shipping in September 07).