The Animation Co-Op Defense League (ACDL), a collective consortium of Adult Animation distributor’s and studio’s, has reported on it’s efforts to curb what it calls illegal distribution of adult animation (also known as Hentai). According to their press release, the consortium has made “significant progress in their efforts to educate and combat the proliferation of web sites illegally hosting and offering for sale selling unlicensed content which is owned by the major Animation studios”.
Providing some numbers, the group claims to have - for the year of 2008 alone - already “taken down a total of 10,738 infringers, including: 5006 Movie file-sharing links, 2123 Picture file-sharing links and 3609 Blog post”.
Full Press Release contained here-in after the jump.
Remember these guys? Masato Nakatsuji, the former 24-year-old Osaka Electro-Communication University graduate student is being charged with copyright violation for the usage of Clannad images as well as defamation of another student.
The Defamation charge was brought about due to his usage of the photograph of a fellow student in an attempt to displace the blame from himself by leading police to the other student.
Although he may have embedded Trojan Horses, Viruses, and other Malware within these images, Japan does not have laws against such and therefore he is not being charged with any crimes in relation to doing so.
Nakajutsi has acknowledged the creation of these images and their malware as being to place hindrance upon Winny - the file-sharing network in which he distributed these images - and also as something he just did “for fun”. Prosecutors are seeking a two year prison sentence.
According to a press release - and a subsequent post by Kotaku, Square-Enix, developer and publisher of the popular Final Fantasy series, is cracking down on outlets who manufacture and/or sell swords inspired by the series.
Square-Enix has filed a federal lawsuit in the in the Central District of California to seek damages against those whom have infringed upon their IP (seems to be alot of that going around lately). Square-Enix has named at least four manufacturers and retailers in its lawsuit.
The actions taken by Square-Enix came after the United States Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol took possession of a crate of said swords which carried the same designs as those seen in the Final Fantasy series. In relation to the crackdown and investigation by Square-Enix in which many resellers ceased operation and many manufacturers gave them the cold shoulder, General Counsel for Square-Enix, Yasuhiko Hasegawa, had the following to say:
While Square Enix appreciates the enthusiasm of its fans, and values its relationship with them, it is also obligated to protect its intellectual property rights or risk weakening or losing the very rights that enable the company to continue to provide its fans with an exciting entertainment experience.
So without any further details made public or any ideas as to official licensing of swords by Square-Enix (stateside, at least, where these infringements were occurring), the lawsuit trudges on. In the meantime, we shall watch in humor as the guy below laboriously swings around his own custom made bastard sword.
Singaporean ISP PacNet was today ordered to hand over subscriber data to six Japanese anime companies after a number of alleged copyright violations by said subscribers. The ruling, by Justice Woo Bih Li, is a result of an appeal by Singaporean anime distributor Odex who last year failed to secure the details themselves.
The good news is that Odex was again refused access to the data - as they only sub-license the material, with details going directly to respective Japanese copyright holders; this however is not much of a win considering these companies are clearly corroborating with Odex. Odex was also ordered to pay PacNet’s legal fees of ~$14,000 (US), hohoho.
Three users of the popular Japanese P2P application Winny were arrested today, 24th January 2008, charged with uploading anime images/video, in violation of Japanese copyright law.
In Japan it is legal to download copyrighted material, however uploading unauthorized copyrighted material - as was the case for the three arrested - is illegal.
Two of the individuals are charged with uploading episode 23 of Idolmaster Xenoglossia, while the third is charged with uploading images from Clannad (as part of a virus he was trying to spread).
As a follow up to our previous report of 4chan’s domain being hijacked, it has been brought to our attention that the 4chan.org domain was recovered yesterday at 8:26:35 PM UTC.
What Diditforthelulz looks like at the time of this post.
Additionally, the host of the site claiming the hack has since suspended the user’s account permanently and is in the process of terminating it. They are also working in hand with Moot, other 4chan representatives, and the FBI to resolve the situation. The site hosting the mp3 linked to in the previous post has also been stripped of ownership by the domains registrar.
It is not only Odex condemning fansubs as of late, the most recent attack comes from Arthur Smith, president of G.D.H. International (owners of Gonzo), during an interview carried out by ActiveAnime.
Smith, who has been working in the anime industry since 2000, describes fansubs as the ’single biggest global threat to the anime industry’.
In the remainder of the interview Smith goes on to say that fansubbers, and those who support in distributing fansubs, are the main factor contributing to a 30% decrease in the size of the US Anime market.
The interview does carry a few positive notes, namely the steps that Gonzo are taking to expand its distribution channels (by using iTunes and XBox Live) and how in the next 6-12 months we should see a decrease in time it takes to get anime released in the US.
Update (21/11): Official news of BayTSP’s mistake given in Singaporean newspaper The New Paper. OtakuTimes even got referred to in the article ^_^. Source: DarkMirage
Update (20/11): DarkMirage reports that after speaking with an Odex employee this was all a mistake on BayTSP’s part.
In the past few days fansub downloaders from the USA (Comcast), Japan (Usen), and France (Club Internet), have received DMCA notices for downloading unlicensed anime episodes (using Bittorrent). In the latter two cases the notices explicitly mentioned that they were sent by BayTSP on behalf of Odex; it can be assumed that this is probably the case for the Comcast downloader also.
Here are some extracts from the letter sent to the Club Internet user:
BayTSP, Inc. (”BayTSP”) swears under penalty of perjury that it is authorized to act on behalf of ODEX Private Limited/Anti Video Piracy Association (Singapore) (collectively known as ODEX/AVPAS), the exclusive licensees and/or authorized agents of the owners of copyright materials and interests (the Copyright Owners) that is protected in Singapore under applicable copyright laws in force and enacted pursuant to various international treaties. BayTSP’s search of the protocol listed below has detected infringements of exclusive copyright interests on your IP addresses as detailed in the attached report.
Evidentiary Information:
Notice ID: 61192
Asset: Ouran High School Host Club
Protocol: BitTorrent
IP Address: 89.85.xx.xx
DNS: i07v-89-85-xx-xx.d4.club-internet.fr
File Name: [Nerae]_Ouran_High_School_Host_Club_22_[57603381].avi
File Size: 370843648
Timestamp: 11 Nov 2007 06:17:33 GMT
Last Seen Date: 11 Nov 2007 06:17:33 GMT
URL: http://bt.nerae.com:7072/announce
Username (if available):
Other series mentioned in DMCA notices so far include Gundam 00 and Shugo Chara!.
Odex, the Singaporean anime distributor that has recently been firing a barrage lawsuits at fansub downloaders, has announced today that it plans further legal action after its recent failure to extract subscriber information from Singaporean ISP Pacific Internet (PacNet).
Unlike some Singaporean ISPs (i.e. SingTel), PacNet had taken up Odex’s legal challenge with the result being that District Judge Ernest Lau blocked Odex’s request; this stemmed from that fact that Odex did not even hold copyright, or exclusive license, to the material that was being infringed (in fact, the company only holds one exclusive license!).
Peter Ahlstrom, Tokyopop Editor, has confirmed to ANN that their license for Marmalade Boy (Pictured Left), a romantic comedy anime series, episodes 1-24 have expired. However, they still retain the license for episodes 25-76 which will not expire for a “couple [of] years”. According to Peter Ahlstrom, the reason for this is, “The first 24 episodes were licensed much earlier, so their license expired much earlier.”
In addition, ANN has also confirmed that Tokyopop’ s held licenses for Saint Tail (Pictured Right), the magical girl anime series, have also expired.
Remember 
According to a press release - and a subsequent post by 
Singaporean ISP 
As a follow up to our previous report of 4chan’s 
It is not only 
In the past few days fansub downloaders from the 
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Odex, the Singaporean anime distributor that has recently been firing a barrage lawsuits at fansub downloaders, has announced today that it 
Peter Ahlstrom, Tokyopop Editor, has confirmed to 
“The first 24 episodes were licensed much earlier, so their license expired much earlier.”