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AnimeSekai Feb 5 2008, 07:37 AM
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 There is this Anime distributor Odex (the official rights owner and distributor for so many animes like Gundam, Cowboy Bebop, One Piece, Naruto, etc. here in Singapore) that is keep tracking of people downloading anime... So what are your views?

The following is quoted from Wikipedia.
Odex's actions against file-sharing began in 2007 when Odex, a Singaporean company that licenses and releases anime for local and regional consumption, began tracking IP addresses that were believed to be downloading anime, identifying the Internet users associated with the IP address and threatening legal action against them. Odex alleges that these users infringed on its copyrights by downloading its licensed anime via the BitTorrent network. Between May and August 2007 two out of three subpoenas on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to reveal subscribers' personal identity were ruled in Odex's favour, and several downloaders received pre-litigation letters from Odex. More than a third subsequently settled out of court for at least S$3,000 (US$2,000) per person, the youngest defendant being only nine years old.

These legal actions attracted international notoriety for the similarity to legal actions taken by the Recording Industry Association of America in the United States. They were considered controversial by the Singaporean anime community and have triggered several online reactions and criticisms of the company as fans perceived them to be sudden and heavy-handed. Subsequently Odex revised some of its legal actions that included sending cease and desist emails to downloaders in Singapore, which in November 2007 unintentionally reached several Internet users worldwide.

On 23 August 2007, Odex lost its suit against Internet Service Provider Pacific Internet to reveal 1,000 of its subscribers' information. District Judge Earnest Lau ruled that Odex failed to meet a number of requirements for the release of such information, as the company was exclusive licensee for only one anime title and its evidence was found to be unsatisfactory.

The company's actions attracted national media attention and were harshly criticised by the Singaporean anime community as being sudden and too severe, though Odex claimed that notices were posted on several blogs and forums to warn illegal downloaders. Several anime fans were further outraged by the fact that children as young as nine years old were subjected to the same legal threats, claiming that children would not be able to differenciate legal downloading and illegal downloading at a young age. Odex cites the fall in VCD and DVD sales (of as much as 70%) in 2006 and 2007 was the result of illegal downloading, but several fans responded Odex's products were far inferior and released later than the downloaded versions. Odex then promised to make improvements to future anime releases, but blamed its inaccuracy in subtitling on fansubbers that it had hired and censorship laws, for disallowing mature themes such as yaoi. The Board of Film Censors responded that it merely classifies content, and it had never asked for subtitles to be tweaked, and that the onus is on the distributor to ensure the subtitles are accurate.

In addition to the problems of quality and scheduling, sharp criticisms were directed at Odex's business model for using a litigious strategy and poor public relations. The company and its partners from AVPAS, an anti-piracy alliance founded in July 2003 consisting of Japanese firms and its office based in Odex's headquarters, hold the licensing rights to over 400 titles, or almost 90% of all anime in Singapore, and does not make releases for several anime it has licensed lest the more popular ones. Calls to boycott Odex's products became widespread in online blogs and forums.

There was an allegation that Odex was passing off fansubs as its own work. This was partially true as Odex had hired some anime fans to do subtitling in 2004, who "took the easy way out and copied word for word the subtitles on fansubs they downloaded. They claimed that at the time of release the company did not realize what the anime fans had done, and have been paying for this mistake ever since. It was reported at the same time that all of Odex's subtitling and translation was now being done "in house". However, Odex's release of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya in September 2007 was also found to contain translations strongly resembling an earlier unauthorised fansub release.

On Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008, the right to privacy is no shield for those who commit online piracy, the High Court ruled. Since Odex could not sue downloaders under Singapore's Copyright Act, there was no reason why it needed the names of the alleged downloaders - unlike the Japanese studios which own the copyright for the anime and could sue infringers.
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