Morrison & Foerster's Tokyo office has significant experience in entertainment and media matters.
The office's clients include producers, creators, licensors, licensees and other acquirers of content ranging from major motion picture and animation properties to mobile telephone ringtones, video game developers and distributors, wireless infrastructure providers, and site developers and operators.
Recent entertainment and media transactions on which we have advised include:
- Nexon’s equity investment in Fantage.com. We represented Nexon, one of Asia's largest online gaming companies, in its purchase of a 30% stake in Fantage.com, a U.S. operator of a next generation virtual community site.
- Universal Pictures International’s acquisition of Geneon Entertainment from Dentsu. We represented Universal Pictures International in its acquisition of a majority stake in Geneon Entertainment, a Japanese anime and home entertainment production company, from Dentsu, and the subsequent merger of Geneon Entertainment and Universal Pictures Japan.
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NBC Universal’s acquisition of JSBC2 from Jupiter Telecommunications. We represented NBC Universal in its acquisition of JSBC2, a Japanese company with a Japanese television channel broadcasting license, from Jupiter Telecommunications.
- Sega’s acquisition of KUSH and sale of Virtual Concepts to Take-Two. We represented Sega in its acquisition of U.S. sports video game developer KUSH, the integration of KUSH with Sega’s Virtual Concepts subsidiary, and the subsequent sale of Virtual Concepts to Take-Two.
- Amana’s sale of its U.S. and European Operations to Getty Images. We Represented Amana, a leading Japanese online photo stock company, in the sale of its U.S. and European operations to Getty Images.
- Warner Brothers Online licenses of movie content. We represented Warner Brothers Online in the licensing of certain of its animated characters and movie content for distribution via Japan’s wireless network operators.
- Index’s acquisition of Shenzhen Skyinfo Telecom. We represented Index, a leading Jasdaq listed wireless value added service provider, in its acquisition of Shenzhen Skyinfo Telecom, China’s third largest mobile content provider.
- Sega’s entrance into the China online gaming market. We represented Sega in its entrance into the China online gaming market through licenses with CNC Broadband Entertainment for the CTRacer massively multiplayer online (MMO) game and with T2 for the Shenmue Online MMO role-playing game.
- Star Channel's licensing of video content. We represented Star Channel, a Japanese joint venture created to serve the Japanese market with film and other programming, in connection with a variety of matters related to the licensing of video content.
- Fuji Television Network's international exploitation of domestic programming. We represented Fuji Television Network, Inc. in the international exploitation of its domestic programming.
- Kadokawa Shoten Publishing's international promotion of its authors. We represented Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd. in the international promotion of its authors.
- DirectTV’s sale of DirectTV/Japan to Sky Perfect. We represented Hughes Corporation in the sale of the assets of DirectTV Japan to Sky Perfect TV.
- Fujitsu’s webTV joint venture with Microsoft. We represented Fujitsu in its joint venture with Microsoft for the formation of WebTV KK, and the establishment of a new on-line network in Japan. The transaction involved the establishment of a broad relationship between Fujitsu and Microsoft, and the negotiation of terms for Fujitsu’s supply of on-line content, ISP and hosting services.