Well, a lawsuit would be to assert the validity of the contracts they hold. That is exactly what is under contention by Libre, and by extension, the artists. And just to be clear, I agree with you completely that a lawsuit from CPM would accomplish nothing… I originally brought it up only as a strawman argument. It’s an option, and a very poor option, but one that’s there because they may have technically licensed from the artists via, as you say, the publishers acting as agents.

Until some mangaka makes his/her disagreement known otherwise, I would have to assume that Libre is acting out his/her wish. Honestly, I’m hoping the mangaka of the contested books are on CPM’s side… it would just be more and more unlikely the long this thing remains unresolved.

I’m sorry, I was thrown off by your comment that Libre owns the books. (And by a general assumption that seems to pervade manga-blog/forum world that the contracts are with the publishers.) If anyone is unclear, the publishers lease certain rights from the artist. Apparently, Libre considers itself to have obtained the right to negotiate foreign-language rights on behalf of the author, including those books where the foreign-language rights have previously been leased.

I’m missing something in your comment. Why would CPM sue? A lawsuit won’t get them new contracts, and they already have old contracts in hand. I could see Libre suing CPM if they think that their contracts with the artist supercedes CPM’s contracts with the artists. But can’t see what you think CPM’s suing the artists would accomplish.

Also, to anyone who read my above comment and assumed (on reread, quite naturally) that I was in CPM’s editorial department. Sorry, I wasn’t. I didn’t mean to mislead anyone, it was just thoughtless commenting on my part. A few years back, I headed up the editorial department at Viz, and that’s where my general knowledge of the licensed-manga world comes from.

Actually the working assumption *is* that the contracts were with the mangaka, because mangaka retain their copyright… technically, most licensing contracts are probably structured this way. Hence I’ve made comments elsewhere that 1) suing the artists is a possibility. Not a great move, but it’s there. And 2) artists standing up for CPM may be the only way to counter Libre without bloodshed.

The chances of that happening diminishes with each day, though I suppose there’s the slim possibility that Libre is doing this under the artists’ noses. But if that were true, I doubt they’d have posted the original message on their website, in both English and Japanese…

I understand why people would assume that the contracts are with the publisher rather than the artists since the publishers have enormous power over the artists. But the ultimate right rests not with the publisher but with the artist, and is there for the artist to assert. (Some artists have asserted their rights with their Japanese publishers and use their own agency rather than the publisher to arrange for foreign licences of their work.)

From Libre’s point of veiw, they now have the right to negotiate contracts on behalf of the artists, but CPM is working on contracts that don’t include a percentage for them (and probably at lower-than-present-market rates for the artists). I can see them getting upset over this. But I rather doubt that Libre’s legal assertions are correct.

Just to note: I was in editorial and not licensing, and I have no background in law. My experiences with licensing (although many and varied) are mostly from how the licenses affect editorial, and from long talks with licensing people.

You’re right, the most interesting bit is that a major relationship for CMP is having a public crisis. Even if Biblios’ agreements with CPM continue to be valid, CPM will eventually have to negotiate an agreement with Libre, which could be an opportunity for another publisher.

David, thanks for the edit.

That’s my wild act of fan speculation for the day.