In 1974, Tsuburaya Productions, responsible for everything Ultraman, teamed up with a Thai company, Chaiyo, to make the film �Hanuman and the 7 Ultraman�. The film premiered in Japan on March 14th, 1979 under the name �Six Ultra Brothers vs. The Monster Army�. The movie featured Tsuburaya�s Ultraman, Ultra Seven, Ultraman Jack, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Taro, and the Mother of Ultra. The film also featured an original Thai hero named Hanuman. The monkey hero is inspired by the monkey god from the Hindu epic, Ramayana. The film featured a very strange style and plot. The story went like this:
Three evil treasure hunters sawed off a Buddha�s head among the ancient ruins of a Thai temple. Just when they were about to get away with the head, a young orphan that played in the ruins named Piko tried to stop them. His efforts were in vain however, and he was killed.
Far away on Nebula M78, the Ultra brothers witnessed the courageous act by young Piko. Inspired by his bravery, the Mother of Ultra retrieved his body from Earth and brought his body back to the Land of Light. There, the Ultra�s resurrected Piko as the host of the Thai hero, Hanuman. Hanuman returned to Earth, tracked down the robbers, and killed them. He then returned the Buddha�s head to the decapitated body. At that time, Thailand was experiencing a serious drought. One of Thailand�s meteorological research agencies tried to call in the rain by launching rockets into the sky to seed the clouds. However, it was Hanuman who saved the day when he went up to the heavens to tell Rama to drive his Sun chariot away from Earth.
Unfortunately, during the launch of the rockets, something went wrong and one of them misfired. The explosion that followed awakened the monsters hidden underground. The monsters, Gomola, (from Ultraman) Dustpan, (from Mirroman) Astromons, Tyrant, and Dorobon (The three from Ultraman Taro) woke up and ravaged through the country side.
Hanuman jumped into the action, but he couldn�t defeat the monsters alone. The Six Ultra Brothers came to Hanuman�s aid, and together they killed the kaiju, and saved the Earth.
Before this mediocre film, Tsuburaya and Chaiyo had worked on another film together: Janborg Ace and Giant in the same year. (1974, for those who don�t remember.) In 1976, Chaiyo obtained a licensing agreement from Eiji Tsuburaya�s son, Noboru Tsuburaya. However, the details of the contract were ambiguous. The legally nebulous agreement would later result in legal battles over the rights for Ultraman outside of Japan between Tsuburaya Productions and Chaiyo.
Noboru passed away in late 1995. In the following year, founder and president of Chaiyo productions, Sompote Saengduenchai claimed that the deceased had awarded him rights in contract in exchange for a monetary loan. Tsuburaya issued a letter to validate Chaiyo�s contract, under the idea that it would only be used in Thai business circles. Unfortunately, Sompote used the letter as evidence that Chaiyo owned Ultraman outside of Japan. In 1997, Tsuburaya sued Chaiyo for intellectual property rights violations. Three years later, the Thai Intellectual Property and International Trade (IPIT) court�s verdict ruled in favor of Chaiyo, granting the company full copyrights of Ultraman outside of Japan. Tsuburaya raised appealed to the Supreme Court of Thailand, which is still pending a decision. Chaiyo then brought the case to Japan.
On April 27th, 2004, the Tokyo High Court surprised everyone by awarding Chaiyo rights to the first six Ultra series (Ultra Q � Ultraman Taro) and Jumborg Ace outside of Japan. However, the ultimate copyright was still owned by Tsuburaya. Also, both countries clearly stated that the copyright of all of these programs belonged solely to Tsuburaya Productions of Japan. Furthermore, the decision in Japan emphasized that only Tsuburaya Productions has the legal right to create new Ultraman characters or Ultraman TV shows and films.
Presently, Tsuburaya is still appealing against Chaiyo for overseas merchandising rights. Elsewhere, Chaiyo has designed its own propriety of Ultraman characters such as Ultraman Millennium, Ultraman Elite, and Ultraman Dark. They announced plans to run a 52 episode series and build a theme park in Thailand, but nothing ever happened with either of the two projects.
As you can see, Ultraman has, in a way, been stolen from Tsuburaya. Chaiyo has done something very, very wrong. How they believed the rights for Ultraman belong to them is beyond me. Chaiyo is a horrible company, and it should be shut down. They do not deserve to be forgiven, and in my opinion, Sompote Saengduenchai should be shot for his actions.
Recently, a DVD company named BCI found the rights held by Chaiyo, and teamed up with them to release the recent R1 Ultraman DVD. If you have the R2 discs, avoid this release by the plague so you do not give Chaiyo money. But, if you can�t understand Japanese, or can�t play R2 discs, and you want something with better quality than bootlegs, then this is the only real thing you can get. Just make sure you hurt yourself badly for helping Chaiyo if you buy the disc, like I did.
Information from www.ultramanlah.com