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| Lawsuits against anime fans in Singapore | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 5 2008, 07:37 AM (179 Views) | |
| AnimeSekai | Feb 5 2008, 07:37 AM Post #1 |
Super Mod
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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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| NicoRobin | Feb 5 2008, 12:58 PM Post #2 |
~angel~
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uh, how do they track if you're downloading episodes? |
 StingerBoy Pirates: Researcher 
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| Kazuki | Feb 5 2008, 01:08 PM Post #3 |
Senior Webmaster
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This belongs in the debate section *moved* |
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.:Positions:. AnimeSS: Senior Webmaster AnimeSS Forums: Administrator God Stingerboy Pirates: First Mate 
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| AnimeSekai | Feb 5 2008, 01:54 PM Post #4 |
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Super Mod
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I read that they can obtain the IP addresses from the service provider-Singnet, starhub and pacnet and with the IPs they able to crackdown on the anime downloaders |
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We cannot cure the world of Sorrows, but We can choose to live in Joy! Moderator + Translator = Neechan of Arya Family SKYPE: Animesekai MSN: lynnkidz@live.com.sg | |
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| Kazuki | Feb 5 2008, 02:03 PM Post #5 |
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Senior Webmaster
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lol like right now I can see everyone IP adress just because im an admin, and if you did anything bad I could ban your IP adress and you could never access this site from your computer again. They use the IP adress of your computer and find where you live by those means. |
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.:Positions:. AnimeSS: Senior Webmaster AnimeSS Forums: Administrator God Stingerboy Pirates: First Mate
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| Arya | Feb 5 2008, 04:14 PM Post #6 |
Big Boss of Arya Family
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Hahhahahahahahahaha well in Indonesia there are a lot of ilegal products XD so this matter is out of question for me :lol: |
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| Harvey | Feb 21 2008, 09:34 AM Post #7 |
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Novice
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Remember that bittorrent is peer to peer network.. so, do be able to receive the file from people uploading, they need your IP address to send it to you. What copyright owners can do it connect up to BT, and obtain the IP addresses of people uploading and downloading it. With the IP, they can work out your ISP... and then go to them to ask who you are (which is where some law suits can come in to play as the copy right holders try to get the ISP to hand over the downloaders personal details). If you're worried, you should try running PeerGuardian. Free software which has lists of corporation IP addresses (regularly updated) so it can refuse connections originating from them. I think a lot of people in America downloading latest hollywood movies etc like to use it. |
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