Thai Ultraman Entrepeneur Plans Big Outside Japan

[Mulboyne]

Sompote Saengduenchai (left) concluding a deal to make Ultraman films in China
BangkokPost: Ultraman Theme Park Poised to Take Off

It would take a while for Sompote Saengduenchai, to walk around his 100-rai plot because it stretches one-and-a-half kilometres from the entrance gate...He plans to buy another 900 rai from neighbouring owners to construct the world's biggest Ultraman city, to be called the Future Ultraman Museum, at the cost of at least one billion baht. The project has been Mr Sompote's biggest move since the Supreme Court in Japan ruled earlier this year that he had legal ownership rights to Ultraman characters everywhere except Japan, ending a seven-year copyright ownership dispute with Tsuburaya Productions in Japan...more...

[Mulboyne]

His dreams have just taken a blow:

Kyodo via Japan Today: Top court rules Ultraman is not Thai

Thailand's Supreme Court has ruled that TV superhero Ultraman is not Thai, rejecting a complaint by a local businessman who claimed he helped invent the iconic Japanese character, an official said Wednesday. The ruling ended a 10-year legal battle by Sompote Saengduenchai, who had claimed he co-invented the Ultraman character and was entitled to a portion of the huge profits generated by the series and its licensed products outside of Japan. The judges found Sompote did not contribute any creativity to the Ultraman character when it was first created more than four decades ago, the official said. It ruled Sompote must pay 10 million baht ($300,000) in damages to Tsuburaya Productions, the Tokyo-based company that produces the Ultraman TV show.