AIC Wins Legal Battle to Return as Shareholder of AIC Rights

Anime International Company (AIC) announced on July 3 that it has won a civil suit against AIC Rights and producer Yoshikazu Maeda, with the company now recognized as a shareholder of AIC Rights.

The lawsuit began in August 2021. AIC demanded a return of its shares of AIC Rights. AIC Rights asserted that, due to Yoshikazu Maeda already having sold his shares of AIC Rights to a third party and thus ceasing to be a shareholder of AIC Rights, it had no such shares to return.

The Tokyo District Court initially ruled in favor of AIC in March 2025. AIC Rights and Maeda filed an appeal to the Tokyo High Court, which affirmed the Tokyo District Court's original decision in July 2025. Maeda alone then filed a final appeal to the Supreme Court, which refused to accept the appeal on May 27 earlier this year, thus again affirming the original decision.

AIC Rights originated from a company split with AIC in 2015, which saw a majority of AIC's intellectual property transferred to AIC Rights. AIC Rights then began producing anime based on legacy properties of AIC, including Battle Athletes Victory ReSTART! and Tenchi Muyo! Ryo Ohki (2016, 2020).

AIC Rights made an agreement in April 2021 to transfer partial ownership of some of its existing copyrights to Toei Agency, with the two companies now sharing joint ownership. The IPs include the Megazone 23 franchise, Hades Project Zeorymer, Dangaioh, the Bubblegum Crisis franchise, the Gall Force franchise, and the Tenchi Muyo! franchise.

Source: AIC via Anime Business on Bluesky