“Otaku Critic” sued!

September 25, 2009 by Toonleap
Filed under Japan, News, Oddities

Here is some random news. It seems even Otaku Critics gets sued in Japan…

Famous “otaku critic” and bestselling author Toshio Okada is being sued by the operator of a defunct mobile phone-based Internet site related to his book.

T2 Mediapal, the company that developed the software for the site, filed suit against Okada, the 51-year-old author of the hit “Itsumademo Debu to Omouna yo” (“Don’t think you’ll be fat forever”), at the Tokyo District Court demanding some 22 million yen in damages in connection with the closure of the site.

According to the suit, dated June 2, in February 2007 Okada requested T2 establish the Internet site as a tie-up with the launch of a dieting book. In August of the same year, Okada released his hit “Itsumademo” book, quickly selling some 540,000 copies, prompting T2 to open the “Itsu Debu-Diet” site in April 2008, after gaining the approval of Japan’s three major mobile phone networks.

However, trouble arose in connection to royalties Okada was already receiving from another mobile phone Internet site. T2 informed the mobile carriers of the trouble surrounding the royalties from the rival site in January and February this year. The three mobile carriers, fearing a dispute over rights, all shut down the T2 site on their networks between March and June.

“Mr. Okada did not make any effort to keep our site in operation,” T2 emphasizes in the filing.

Okada teaches a seminar on “otaku culture” at the University of Tokyo, and writes on anime and video games.

“Itsumademo” chronicles his own dieting techniques, which he used to drop from 117 kilograms to 67 in a single year.

Regarding the suit, Okada said that he had “informed the mobile carriers about the situation with the other site, which was operating without a copyright agreement.

“The complaint is a false accusation, and very regrettable,” the writer concluded.

Source: Mainichi