Straightening Out Katyusha

So I read this, and I’m like, OK that’s pretty good.

But here is the thing:

The Crunchyroll stream of Girls und Panzer spans not just the US, but also Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and South Africa. So it’s not a simple (or more likely, technically risky, logistically complex, and expensive) thing to do. Second, Sentai is really the party with the North American license here. Why look to CR to do anything? (Don’t answer, I know.)

I actually contacted CR customer service and they said basically they knew this was going to the case, they asked, and the licensor decided to just not do it. Lvlln’s wax poetry about copyright does not point out the not-as-obvious thing that DiGi Kerot points out–the song is not in the credits for the CR version. That kind of make it obvious that this is a Japan decision, to edit the credit scroll like that.

Now, is Katyusha in public domain in Japan? I actually have no idea. You would think if Japan’s copyright law respects WIPO then it would be life + 50, and given how the creators of Katyusha did not pass away until 1973 and 1990, the song would still be in copyright in Japan. There was probably some complex wrinkle in that so it would be prudent to err on the safe side, but given the production committee nature any Japanese copyright would’ve been easily cleared by the publisher.

At least no aniblogger is trying to claim Apple’s patent is provisionally invalidated. That sort of reporting is just outright public disservice. You’re better off watching a TEDx talk about chanting mantra for Gaia. Again, the “refrain” goes: copyright is too complicated, don’t even try to decipher it, not even your average lawyer can hack it well enough–expert only please.