Iowa resident and manga fan Christopher Handley has been having a rather unpleasant two years. In May of 2006, Handley ordered a package from Japan containing "inappropriate" manga (namely yaoi and lolicon). When the postal inspector intercepted his package and applied for a warrant, Mr. Handley was followed home by police, who searched his home and found a handful of "obscene" images among his collection of more than 1,200 comics.
Now Mr. Handley, 38, is being tried in the Iowa court system for supposed violations of the PROTECT Act, which provides for up to twenty years in prison for obscenity violations. The Comic Book Defense Fund, known for their vigorous protection of the First Amendment rights of comic book retailers and creators, have agreed to help defend Mr. Handley in the first recorded case in which a private citizen has been accused of obscenity in the privacy of his own home.
Carl Gustav Horn (of Dark Horse) and Jason Thompson (of Otaku USA), two of the most respected names in the manga industry, contacted Anime News Network regarding Christopher Handley's trial. They have published two lengthy editorials begging manga fans to understand the implications of a guilty verdict in Handley's case and, if possible, to donate to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The articles are great reads for all manga fans who are interested in their industry's continued survival - which is hopefully each and every one of you. Please read these fantastic articles, and consider a donation to the CBLDF.
"20 Years in Prison for Buying a Manga" by Carl Horn
"Manga, Censorship and Obscenity" by Jason Thompson
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Welcome to our newest little project here at Ani-Gamers. For a new way of covering the news, we will now be changing our format so that bigger news stories get bigger coverage, and smaller news stories are placed in these "News Briefs" articles. After the break you'll find links to news articles and quick summaries for those of you too pressed for time (read: lazy) to click through and check them out.
Today, we've got an interesting slip of the tongue that may have just confirmed Ubisoft's current development of Assassin's Creed 2, Konami's continuing desire to bring Metal Gear Solid 4 to the Xbox 360, and a new national law that might spell doom for internet pirates everywhere. Read more after the break!
Assassin's Creed's Altair learns to swim for future project (Joystiq):
In an interview with AusGamer, David Wilkinson (animation director for Prince of Persia) was talking about Alex Drouin, animation director for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Assassin's Creed, when he was asked what Drouin is up to now. Wilkinson, in a classic moment of slipped tongues, replied, "He's busy making Altair even more beautiful. Last thing I saw him do was getting Altair to swim." There's pretty much nothing that you can glean from this except that there is a sequel to Assassin's Creed coming (as if that wasn't clear), and that the main character Altair will indeed be able to swim this time around.
U.S. Copyright Law That Allows Equipment Seizures Signed (Anime News Network): President George W. Bush recently signed into law a bill called PRO-IP (Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property), which will create a position known as the "Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator," in charge of tracking down and dealing with copyright infringers, much in a similar fashion to the War on Drugs.
An earlier version of the bill would have allowed the government to sue on behalf of rights holders, something that would put anime fansubbing in grave, grave danger. The most important point about the law is that it allows the government to seize any and all equipment (i.e. your computer) if there is evidence of copyright infringement, and sue again if any more infringing material is found therein.
Konami: 'We're actively looking' into MGS4 on Xbox 360 (Joystiq): According to Japanese investment research firm Morningstar, game developer Konami is "actively looking into a [Metal Gear Solid 4] release for the Xbox 360." We've known for a while that the developers of the hit game were thinking of bringing it over to the Xbox 360, but the recent multi-console movement among big games like Final Fantasy XIII just might push Konami to finally make the jump.
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