Slam Dunk Manga Accused of Plagiarism

Ironically, shortly after a controversy broke over manga artist Yuki Suetsugu copying artwork drawn by Takehiko Inoue, Inoue himself is now being accused of plagiarism. The January 2006 issue of Cyzo Magazine contains an article accusing artist Takehiko Inoue of having adapted photographs of NBA players into illustrations for his best selling manga series Slam Dunk. “Japanese law has examples of artists who’ve fallen foul of copyright laws by using others’ images as a reference for their own manga.” However, this case may be being blown out of proportion as Inoue is not being accused of literally copying another artist’s work. Using photographs as reference material is common practice for artists.

Source: Mainichi Daily News