Pro-Link is the local agent of Ultraman superheroes rights owner Tsuburaya Productions.

In April the Intellectual Property Court prohibited Chaiyo Productions from licensing Ultraman characters and their spin-offs, which are Ultraman Millennium, Dark Ultraman and Ultraman Elite.

The court ruled that Sompote Saengduenchai and his companies Tsuburaya Chaiyo and Chaiyo Productions hold the copyright only to the nine Ultraman movies mentioned in their 1976 agreement with Tsuburaya Productions, and not to any Ultraman characters.

Pro-Link has bought space in major newspapers to launch its advertorial designed to promote public awareness of its rights to Ultraman characters.

Chaiyo Productions has licensed more than 10 manufacturers to produce merchandise, including kids' apparel, bedding products, car accessories, milk, canned fish, snacks and stationery items.

This has cost Tsuburaya Productions at least than Bt200 million, Sampote said.

"We will also take legal action against all infringing products of Ultraman characters as well as their producers," he said.

"We have already contacted nearly 10 companies, which make merchandise like CDs, urging them to stop producing and distributing those illegal products immediately," he said.

"It is the key policy of Tsuburaya Productions to encourage better understanding among the general public as well as the business community about the copyright to Ultraman characters and its legal licensing body in Thailand. We don't want those who have the illegal licences to waste time and money," he said.

Since the court's ruling, about 10 merchandise producers have applied to Pro-Link for legal Ultraman licences, he added.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn, The Nation