copyright public-domain
Will the YU-GI-OH! card copyright ever end?
<p>Day by day they bring out new cards, I wonder if someday the royalties will end and if so when approximately?</p>

<h2>It will end</h2>
<p>Each card has its own copyright. Using the <a href="/questions/tagged/united-states" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;united-states&#39;" aria-label="show questions tagged &#39;united-states&#39;" rel="tag" aria-labelledby="united-states-container">united-states</a> as the basis, because most countries mimic them, the copyright for a published work with a known author ends approximately 70 years after the death of the author or 95 years from publication for company-owned copyrights.</p>
<p>The Yu-Gi-Oh manga was first published in 1996 and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuki_Takahashi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">its author died in 2022</a>, so the underlying manga will enter the Public Domain in 2093.</p>
<p>The card game consists of three elements: the cards themselves, the artwork on them and the rules. The rules <strong>aren't</strong> copyrighted. The artwork's copyright is tied to the artists making it, if it is licensed art, or the company, when it is work-for-hire, so might or might lapse at two points: 70 years after the artist's death or together with the card. The card's copyright in the compilation lapses 95 years after the publication. The first set of Yu-Gi-Oh cards was published in 1999, so the copyright will lapse at the earliest 2095 on the first card set. But <strong>only</strong> that first card set. Other card sets will enter Public Domain when their 95 years are up.</p>

<h2>Yes</h2>
<p>Japanese copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author.</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuki_Takahashi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Kazuki Takahashi</a> sadly passed in 2022. Copyright in everything he authored will expire 1 January 2093. Anything authored by others will have a different expiry.</p>
