Victor Mignogna v. Funimation Productions, LLC, et al. (2019) - Vic's lawsuit against Funimation, VAs, and others, for over a million dollars.

[5t3n0g0ph3r]

Cross-posting this:

Crunchyroll Is Adding All Funimation Anime Content, Sony Starts to Phase Out Funimation Brand

Sony is effectively merging its two anime streaming services, announcing that Crunchyroll subscribers will have access to library and simulcast content previously available exclusively on Funimatio…

variety.com

Crunchyroll Adds All Funimation Content, Sony Phasing Out Funimation …

archived 1 Mar 2022 22:23:53 UTC

archive.ph

So Funimation Group, LLC, is now Crunchyroll, LLC.
All of Funimation's titles are being transferred to Crunchyroll and future titles are going to be released under Crunchyroll after April 1st (lol).
The article says nothing about physical distribution (DVD & Blu-Ray) branding.
But if they start pumping out DVD & Blu-Ray titles with Crunchyroll's branding instead of Funimation's, then Funimation will be dead!
@AnOminous Should anything come back from the appeal, does this mean Crunchyroll inherits the lawsuit if Funimation effectively ceases to exist?

 

[StandardStaples]

Cross-posting this:

Crunchyroll Is Adding All Funimation Anime Content, Sony Starts to Phase Out Funimation Brand

Sony is effectively merging its two anime streaming services, announcing that Crunchyroll subscribers will have access to library and simulcast content previously available exclusively on Funimatio…

variety.com

Crunchyroll Adds All Funimation Content, Sony Phasing Out Funimation …

archived 1 Mar 2022 22:23:53 UTC

archive.ph

So Funimation Group, LLC, is now Crunchyroll, LLC.
All of Funimation's titles are being transferred to Crunchyroll and future titles are going to be released under Crunchyroll after April 1st (lol).
The article says nothing about physical distribution (DVD & Blu-Ray) branding.
But if they start pumping out DVD & Blu-Ray titles with Crunchyroll's branding instead of Funimation's, then Funimation will be dead!
@AnOminous Should anything come back from the appeal, does this mean Crunchyroll inherits the lawsuit if Funimation effectively ceases to exist?

Maybe Sony figured the appeal would come back eventually and decide to get rid of Funi on the off chance, just in case.

 

[Captain Manning]

Cross-posting this:

Crunchyroll Is Adding All Funimation Anime Content, Sony Starts to Phase Out Funimation Brand

Sony is effectively merging its two anime streaming services, announcing that Crunchyroll subscribers will have access to library and simulcast content previously available exclusively on Funimatio…

variety.com

Crunchyroll Adds All Funimation Content, Sony Phasing Out Funimation …

archived 1 Mar 2022 22:23:53 UTC

archive.ph

So Funimation Group, LLC, is now Crunchyroll, LLC.
All of Funimation's titles are being transferred to Crunchyroll and future titles are going to be released under Crunchyroll after April 1st (lol).
The article says nothing about physical distribution (DVD & Blu-Ray) branding.
But if they start pumping out DVD & Blu-Ray titles with Crunchyroll's branding instead of Funimation's, then Funimation will be dead!

This actually makes sense. There is absolutely no reason why they need Funimation, Crunchyroll, and Aniplex. Way too much redundancy. Not cost effective.

Unfortunately, you are still stuck with Sony running the show.

@AnOminous Should anything come back from the appeal, does this mean Crunchyroll inherits the lawsuit if Funimation effectively ceases to exist?

I am not @AnOminous, but in a merger the surviving entity will inherit all the debt and liabilities of the non-surviving entity. That includes all pending lawsuits.

Maybe Sony figured the appeal would come back eventually and decide to get rid of Funi on the off chance, just in case.

No.

 

[Allanon]

Maybe Sony figured the appeal would come back eventually and decide to get rid of Funi on the off chance, just in case.

It is extremely likely that Funi actually matters so little to Sony that they didn't even notice or care about the lawsuit. If the appeals come back and Crunchyroll gets slapped then that might change. Interestingly enough, if Funi gets folded into Crunchyroll, does this open up an avenue to go after Crunchyroll for things they might have had a part in, since they'll be suing them anyway? Would this allow them to go for Rooster Teeth too, if RT got absorbed at some point during the lawsuit?

Assuming favorable appeal results, obviously.

 

[I'm not a Robot]

It is extremely likely that Funi actually matters so little to Sony that they didn't even notice or care about the lawsuit. .

It was Sony that conducted the investigation. Tammi Denbow worked for Sony. They had her purportedly write an affidavit.

 

[Kosher Salt]

I'll defer if someone with more specific knowledge comes along, but my guess would be that when Funimation ceases to exist, the lawsuit would transfer up to its parent company, Sony, rather than to its sister company Crunchyroll.

 

[Allanon]

It was Sony that conducted the investigation. Tammi Denbow worked for Sony. They had her purportedly write an affidavit.

I maintain what I said. The big decision makers in Sony very likely didn't even notice the lawsuit. The same person who did a half-hearted investigation and fired Vic over nothing is the one who made the affidavit for the TCPA. The kinds of people who decide it's time to merge Funimation into Crunchyroll probably barely even heard about the lawsuit, especially as the TCPA motion was initially granted and the appeal hasn't moved in two years.

 

[Least Concern]

Here's a pie-in-the-sky result of all this. After The Merge happens and management shuffles around, the new bosses decide to settle the suit by handing out a batch of new VA contracts to Vic. Sure, you'll never work for Funimation again… but Funimation no longer exists and the people that made that decision are no longer in positions of power at the company, so how about we all get some work done? Vic gets work, the fujoshi fans get their daddy back voicing his familiar characters, and everyone's happy except for the people who are constantly mad anyway.

Very unlikely, I know, but it would be a great way for this shit to finally come to an end, I think.

 

[Allanon]

Here's a pie-in-the-sky result of all this. After The Merge happens and management shuffles around, the new bosses decide to settle the suit by handing out a batch of new VA contracts to Vic. Sure, you'll never work for Funimation again… but Funimation no longer exists and the people that made that decision are no longer in positions of power at the company, so how about we all get some work done? Vic gets work, the fujoshi fans get their daddy back voicing his familiar characters, and everyone's happy except for the people who are constantly mad anyway.

Very unlikely, I know, but it would be a great way for this shit to finally come to an end, I think.

If new people are in charge after the merge and the appeals come back in Vic's favor then I'd think there's a much better chance of a settlement offer that includes future employment. Companies aren't generally happy to hire someone who sued them, but given that he technically sued 'Funimation'...well it's still more likely than Funimation making that settlement offer, and I never fully ruled that out. Assuming Vic can get some kind of contractual assurances that he can take them to court over (again) if they try to break or go back on it, it's something Vic would likely jump at taking, since he started the lawsuit in the first place to salvage his career. He's probably looking at 'leave me alone' right now, so I imagine a deal sweeter than that would get his attention.

 

[Captain Manning]

Here's a pie-in-the-sky result of all this. After The Merge happens and management shuffles around, the new bosses decide to settle the suit by handing out a batch of new VA contracts to Vic.

The problem is that SPE is still the parent company, and they were the ones that conducted the investigation. They might have even specifically green lighted Funimation cutting ties with Vic. Those people are still in charge. They have the same CEO and Chairman since 2017.

So I think think it's highly unlikely.

The big decision makers in Sony very likely didn't even notice the lawsuit.

Define "big decision makers," and in what layer of command. This is a VERY complex corporate structure you're talking about.

I think when Rekieta was signing "Sony doesn't know" he was talking about the Japanese parent corporation. I recall that was in response to people inquiring if this bullshit was gonna affect anime licensing deals out of Japan. He's probably right, and it won't.

The Sony organization chart between them and Funimation has a couple of different layers.

It goes: Sony Group Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) --> Sony of America (New York)--> Sony Entertainment (also, New York)--> Sony Pictures Entertainment (California) --> Funimation (Texas, and soon to be Crunchyroll).

Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., out in Culver City, absolutely noticed this lawsuit. I think it's silly to think otherwise.

 

[Allanon]

The problem is that SPE is still the parent company, and they were the ones that conducted the investigation. They might have even specifically green lighted Funimation cutting ties with Vic. Those people are still in charge. They have the same CEO and Chairman since 2017.

So I think think it's highly unlikely.


Define "big decision makers," and in what layer of command. This is a VERY complex corporate structure you're talking about.

I think when Rekieta was signing "Sony doesn't know" he was talking about the Japanese parent corporation. I recall that was in response to people inquiring if this bullshit was gonna affect anime licensing deals out of Japan. He's probably right, and it won't.

The Sony organization chart between them and Funimation has a couple of different layers.

It goes: Sony Group Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) --> Sony of America (New York)--> Sony Entertainment (also, New York)--> Sony Pictures Entertainment (California) --> Funimation (Texas, and soon to be Crunchyroll).

Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., out in Culver City, absolutely noticed this lawsuit. I think it's silly to think otherwise.

Sony Japan, obviously. It is far more likely that everyone involved in deciding to merge Funimation and Crunchyroll didn't even notice the lawsuit at all than that they're somehow trying to dodge appeals on a lawsuit that went overwhelmingly in their favor the first round. Please bear in mind the context of what I am saying before trying to well actually me.

 

[AnOminous]

Sony Japan, obviously. It is far more likely that everyone involved in deciding to merge Funimation and Crunchyroll didn't even notice the lawsuit at all than that they're somehow trying to dodge appeals on a lawsuit that went overwhelmingly in their favor the first round. Please bear in mind the context of what I am saying before trying to well actually me.

It's pretty obvious they chose one over the other and oddly, the one they chose is the more recent Crunchyroll. Whoever made the decision obviously didn't just say "hurr durr I'll just throw a dart at something and then do that." Funimation is an extremely damaged trademark and will soon apparently be an entirely dead one. There is no goodwill attached to it. So Sony is throwing it away like a cum rag that started to grow mushrooms.

Note, CRUNCHYROLL is apparently considered by Sony to have more goodwill.

 

[Allanon]

It's pretty obvious they chose one over the other and oddly, the one they chose is the more recent Crunchyroll. Whoever made the decision obviously didn't just say "hurr durr I'll just throw a dart at something and then do that." Funimation is an extremely damaged trademark and will soon apparently be an entirely dead one. There is no goodwill attached to it. So Sony is throwing it away like a cum rag that started to grow mushrooms.

Note, CRUNCHYROLL is apparently considered by Sony to have more goodwill.

It doesn't surprise me. Funimation has always been kind of grody due to its early start being 'hire random dudes off the street'. Even though CR started out as a pirate site, they still had Funimation's past mistakes to look at and learn from. To me, it seems more likely that the behavior of Funimation that led to the lawsuit (not the exact defamation, but the sloppy nepotism) is the reason CR won out over Funi than a lawsuit that Sony would look at and see 'well they quickly won it'. Or the anger that it inspired in everyone, alongside the other stupid stunts Funi have pulled before and after the lawsuit. There's probably actually a bunch of other factors, like perhaps CR has more JP staff or something along those lines, I just have a hard time believing Sony would determine which company gets to continue existing based entirely on a lawsuit that got tossed out without a fight. If this happened after appeals came back in Vic's favor and Funi started taking a beating, I could believe it, but right now I feel like the reasoning for it is everything other than the lawsuit itself: the people being stupid who caused the lawsuit who are still being stupid and unprofessional, and the love for funimation turning into hatred by the fans.

 

[Captain Manning]

Sony Japan, obviously. It is far more likely that everyone involved in deciding to merge Funimation and Crunchyroll didn't even notice the lawsuit at all than that they're somehow trying to dodge appeals on a lawsuit that went overwhelmingly in their favor the first round. Please bear in mind the context of what I am saying before trying to well actually me.

I fully understand the context of what you're saying. You are saying that the big wigs are Sony Japan, that the big wigs made the decision to do the merger, and that the big wigs don't know about the lawsuit.

What I'm trying to tell you is that it is highly unlikely SPE had to go all the way to Tokyo to get permission to merge two American subsidiaries that are at the very end of the food chain. When you have a corporate structure as complicated as Sony's, delegation is the order of the day. So to @I'm not a Robot's point, if the decision to effect this merger didn't have to be made any higher than SPE, they almost certainly knew about the lawsuit. I'm not trying to demean you in any way.

But it doesn't matter, because I think everybody is on the same page now that this isn't a method that would work to dodge appeals, and the lawsuit wouldn't be a primary motivating force, if it was a force at all.

There might be a belief within SPE that the Funimation brand has too much baggage now. But that also might be hoping too much from those idiots. SPE is the same division that employed Amy Pascal, who can barely write e-mails in English (thank you Sony e-mail hacks!), and greenlit that horrible Ghostbusters move. They are correct however, that the CR brand probably has less baggage.

Note, CRUNCHYROLL is apparently considered by Sony to have more goodwill.

I'll confess, I have an on-again, off-again CR account. It's not a horrible service.

What concerns me is the management shuffle that's gonna happen. I think some of the Funimation idiots are gonna end up at CR. Which would be like taking all the shit smeared all over Funimation, and re-smearing it all over CR. Maybe I'm wrong, and they'll just lay off everybody at Funi, but I kinda doubt it.

 

[AnOminous]

What concerns me is the management shuffle that's gonna happen. I think some of the Funimation idiots are gonna end up at CR. Which would be like taking all the shit smeared all over Funimation, and re-smearing it all over CR. Maybe I'm wrong, and they'll just lay off everybody at Funi, but I kinda doubt it.

Tbh I don't really care what happens I just hope it's funny.

 

[Captain Manning]

Tbh I don't really care what happens I just hope it's funny.

There's always that.

But it's always sad to see a good(ish) brand destroyed by idiots coming from a SHIT brand. I don't think CR ever as bad as Funi.

CR's had some boners, but they gave up on the High Guardian Spice crap, at least. God, that was awful. Maybe they'll hire Amanda Winn Lee and she'll resurrect it. LOL.

 

[Haruka Konishi]

What I'm trying to tell you is that it is highly unlikely SPE had to go all the way to Tokyo to get permission to merge two American subsidiaries that are at the very end of the food chain. When you have a corporate structure as complicated as Sony's, delegation is the order of the day. So to @I'm not a Robot's point, if the decision to effect this merger didn't have to be made any higher than SPE, they almost certainly knew about the lawsuit. I'm not trying to demean you in any way.

Its very unlikely that someone did this merge due to the lawsuit, prolly only a few ppl know about this. merge is as ppl said before a way to cut costs.
This is prolly one out of a collection of things we are gonna see in the future about this funi/CR situation. I highly doubt we are gonna see stuff like CR awards again, or more cr originals unless its a sure investment.
theyre getting gutted, cuz they are now own by a big company as sony.

There's always that.

But it's always sad to see a good(ish) brand destroyed by idiots coming from a SHIT brand. I don't think CR ever as bad as Funi.

CR's had some boners, but they gave up on the High Guardian Spice crap, at least. God, that was awful. Maybe they'll hire Amanda Winn Lee and she'll resurrect it. LOL.

Higher ups in CR aren't retarded, specially the decision makers and producers. Problem with CR is their Social media staff and mainly their editors and translators and marketing staff.
You can tell because of the stuff producers decide to invest in: Shield hero (isekai is very popular nowadays), in/spectre, anime about big booby slaves, etc.
You can say that investing in korean webtoons and in woke american "anime" was retarded, and it was, but a counter argument would be that they arent making those anymore, and that the retarded woke "anime" got canned until their ex staff cried in ANN because they didn't released it.

 

[TheClappening]

Say what you will about his skill at prosecuting a defamation case, but Ty Beard lives and breathes mergers and acquisition. If there's any legal fuckery that happens because of the merger, he'll be able to untangle it.

 

[Thomas Talus]

Funimation never got their own vtuber, clearly they were lagging behind.

 

[DumDum Did Nothing Wrong]

Based schizo rabbit strikes again.