RIAA-style lawsuits hit Singapore anime scene

Found on Ars Technica on Monday, 27 August 2007
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Singapore-based Odex is one of the largest regional distributors of licensed Japanese anime VCDs, but the company believes that unauthorized Internet downloads are eating into its profitability. In November 2006, the company hired US-based BayTSP to help it track down anime downloaders in Singapore.

By April 2007, BayTSP's system had tracked 50 specific titles for six months and found that they had been downloaded a total of 400,000 times in Singapore alone. According to Odex, that is the "highest level of anime downloading in the world by population."

Judge Earnest Lau tossed the case last week after saying that Odex was only a "sub-licensee" from the Japanese firms that created the anime, not an "exclusive licensee." Only exclusive licensees or the actual copyright holder can bring civil suits for infringement.

Anime fans, as one might expect, aren't happy about the entire situation. Even those who acknowledge that Odex has a legal right to enforce its claims argue that the current strategy is counterproductive and likely to turn people against the company.

They don't seem to realize that fansubs actually increase their revenues. Other companies realized and admitted that before. From Wikipedia: "In the promotional video announcing the American license of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Kadokawa Pictures USA and Bandai Entertainment specifically thanked fansub watchers and asked them to purchase the official release."