LAST YEAR: Local firm Odex takes legal action against illegal downloaders of anime

NOW: Japanese anime producer sends lawyer's letters

By Liew Hanqing
August 15, 2008

ANIME fans beware - the copyright holders of these Japanese cartoons are still cracking down on those who download them illegally.


The New Paper, 2 Aug 2007.

Singapore law firm Rajah & Tann is now acting on behalf of Japanese anime producer and distributor Showgate Inc to enforce its copyright here.

Showgate owns the copyright to popular anime series, including Devil May Cry and Great Guardians.

It is not known how many letters have been sent out so far.

The New Paper obtained a copy of the letter, which stated that the users had allegedly downloaded anime through BitTorrent, a popular file-sharing program, and that these downloads were an infringement of Showgate's copyrights.

7 DAYS TO RESPOND
The owners of the Internet accounts that were allegedly used for the downloads have been invited to 'enter discussions' with Showgate's lawyers.

They have seven days to respond to the letters, failing which, legal action will be taken.

Last year, local anime distributor Odex undertook similar enforcement action, sending letters to hundreds of netizens who had allegedly downloaded bootleg copies of anime series licensed to Odex.

Downloaders were ordered to pay Odex up to $5,000 in reimbursement for its enforcement expenses, and to sign letters of undertaking not to repeat their offences.

Showgate is an associate member of the Anti Video Piracy Association of Singapore (AVPAS), a local anti-piracy alliance founded by Odex in 2003.

Odex director Stephen Sing, who is also secretary of AVPAS, told The New Paper that he found out only yesterday that Showgate had begun cracking down on errant downloaders, after a colleague told him about online discussions about it.

SHOWGATE CONSULTED ODEX
He said Showgate was one of the Japanese companies that had consulted with Odex when the local anime distributor conducted enforcement activities against downloaders last year.

Mr Sing said: 'Last year, we acted on behalf of the Japanese companies and were mainly just following their instructions.'

This time, it appears that Showgate is acting independently.

One netizen, who received a letter on Tuesday from Showgate's lawyers, posted a thread on a popular online forum asking fellow netizens for advice on his next course of action.

In his posts, he admitted to having downloaded copies of Devil May Cry in April this year.

He added that he plans to seek legal advice before responding to the letter.

The New Paper tried contacting him via e-mail and through the online forum, but there was no reply.

The New Paper asked Rajah & Tann several questions, including whether information on the downloaders had been obtained from all three Internet service providers, and what kind of settlement their client was looking at.

But one of its lawyers would only say: 'We have no instructions from our clients, the respective Japanese copyright owners, to issue any press statements or respond to queries at this point of time.'

- With additional reporting by Andre Yeo

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Odex's first salvo: May 2007


Odex director Stephen Sing. --ST File Picture

MAY 2007 Local anime distributor Odex gets court order requiring Internet service provider (ISP) SingNet to release account information of users whose accounts are linked to illegal downloads of anime distributed by the company.

It sends letters to them, and also hires US company to track illegal downloads and trace users. Downloaders each made to pay $3,000 to $5,000 in reimbursement to the company.

AUG 2007 StarHub asked to disclose names of illegal downloaders. Incident creates uproar among netizens, who call it privacy infringement.

Soon after, Odex director Stephen Sing is flamed online and threatened. Anti-Odex online campaigns follow.

SEP 2007 Mr Sing announces that Odex will not send any more letters to Internet users with a recent history of illegal downloading, provided they stop at once.

JAN 2008 High Court orders ISP PacNet to give up names of users who illegally downloaded anime to be sent to six Japanese anime studios.

FUCK ODEX!!!

Everyone go and write Stephen Sing name in your Death Notes!!!

Damn! Not again...

We should hire someone to "take care" of Odex...

once they start, they'll nehber stop...

its like erp...

actually I blame the court. they should not have approved the infor from starhub to be given to odex in the first place. and they should not have given the info to the jap companies in the pacnet trial. if the jap companies wanted they should have had to made their own appeal.

what about watching from veohTV,,,,veoh.com...tudou...? my daughter watch alot from there. is that ok?

the concept of privacy laws in SG is non-existence.

Originally posted by SevenEleven:

what about watching from veohTV,,,,veoh.com...tudou...? my daughter watch alot from there. is that ok?

 

 

I guess it is. I watch quite a lot from said sites too. As with this Odex case, if the producers/proprieters of the content you're watching doesn't care, then you're quite safe.

In other words, if the copyright holders decide to take action, you would probably find yourself in the similar predicament as the... vicitims in this Odex saga.

Don't worry, though. I bet many are also watching illegal content on online video sites. Therefore, you'll never be along should someone decide to take action.

if their product is good, i dont mind spending money, their product are still not up to standard.

Look at japan R2 anime disc zzz... i rather spend that kind of money for the quality and design.

Japanese anime can run up to a few hundred espiodes. Who on earth is so rich and stupid to buy the whole set?

Unless my father is Bill Gates.

Originally posted by Spartans:

Japanese anime can run up to a few hundred espiodes. Who on earth is so rich and stupid to buy the whole set?

Unless my father is Bill Gates.

Thats a poor excuse to infringe copyright laws. Anime producers need to earn a living too. The best solution is to stick to unlicensed animes or dont watch at all. Its not a need afterall right?

his retarded face make me feel like making a dart board wif him ...
enterpreniship :D ( damn my english )

Originally posted by shade343:

Thats a poor excuse to infringe copyright laws. Anime producers need to earn a living too. The best solution is to stick to unlicensed animes or dont watch at all. Its not a need afterall right?

I am not finding excuses. I am just stating e fact.

Sigh… After the ‘success’ of odex saga, all the companies now want a piece of us.

Originally posted by furb:

Sigh… After the ‘success’ of odex saga, all the companies now want a piece of us.

What success? They going bankrupt now, NO ONE is buying their product so they try their hand at becoming consultant to companies in Singapore... pui...

please just say your neighbour share your wireless and download one...

say you keep forgetting your wireless password so just disabled the password

Anyway, by rule of compensation, you are only a downloader, not an uploader... if you lose, youshould only compensate for what you download... One series of Naruto should not cost $5,000...

they want the whole singapore anime community and culture to die then they happy is it!?

Originally posted by LatecomerX:

Damn! Not again...

 

x2  maybe odex get a cut in the fine...