Japan's Supreme Court has ruled that copyright for the popular cartoon character Popeye in Japan is no longer valid. The ruling on Thursday overturned a 1992 lower court judgement that the country's complex 50-year copyright rule started each time a cartoon character appeared in a new media.

The copyright issue, including material like popular foreign songs, has long been a controversy between Japan and western trading blocs like the United States and the European Union.

King Features Syndicate, a New York-based company which claims copyright of the spinach-eating sailorman, had filed a suit against a Japanese company for producing and selling neckties bearing the character without its permission. - (Reuters)