ISP Ordered to Reveal Identities of BitTorrent Anime Sharers
Written by enigmax on January 30, 2008The High Court in Singapore has ordered an ISP to hand over the personal details of its customers who used BitTorrent to share Japanese anime titles, overturning a previous decision. The decision will likely pave the way to taking legal action against hundreds more BitTorrent users.
Odex Pt. Ltd is a Singapore-based company that distributes anime in South East Asia. Founded in 1998 it started distributing anime in 2000, offering titles such as Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist and Mobile Suit Gundam. Last year we reported that the company had started to pursue those it accused of sharing its copyright works, sending out many ‘pay up $3500 or else’ letters - a response, says the company, to a drop in sales of more than 60% in the previous 2 years.
Odex used a tracking system to collect IP address of alleged sharers and then in court cases, successfully forced the ISPs StarHub and Singnet to give up the identities of their customers involved in the sweep. Next up, they tried to force another ISP, PacNet to give up the same. However, PacNet refused, so Odex went to court to try to force them to comply. To the dismay of Odex, the court decided that Odex had ‘no right of civil action’ against those it accused of infringing its copyrights, as Odex is only a sub-licensee of the anime titles it distributes, not the copyright holder.
In a very short-lived victory for file-sharers on Tuesday, the High Court dismissed attempts to force PacNet to give up its customers details to Odex. The judge, Justice Woo Bih Li, decided that as Odex had no right in this case to take copyright action, it could not be allowed to see the personal details of PacNet’s customers either.
However, in 2007, Odex added the names of the real six Japanese copyright holders to its case (GDH, Kadokawa Pictures, Showgate, Sunrise, TV Tokyo MediaNet and Yomiuri Telecasting) which, it turns out, was a smart move. Although Justice Woo Bih Li denied Odex a chance to see the records, the real copyright holders are in a position to sue - so he granted them full access to the records instead.
A spokesperson for PacNet said: “Pacnet is glad that the court has ruled in favour of us and has dismissed Odex’s appeal with costs. We will abide by [the] ruling and provide these copyright owners with the details of about 500 IP addresses.”
By some estimates, Odex could’ve made as much as $9m if everyone they accused paid up so they are understandably pleased at the result of the case. A spokesman said: “This ruling in favor of the Japanese copyright owners is a significant boost for us and our principals, as we have always acted for and on behalf of the copyright owners. We are very pleased that Pacnet will now be required to hand over information on the infringing accounts to our copyright owners.”
It’s likely that this decision will encourage Odex to continue with their tactics against file-sharers, tactics which have already resulted in death threats for its boss, Stephen Sing and his family, after being dubbed ‘the most hated man in Singapore’s anime community’.
Previously: Torrentz Introduces Verified Torrents and More New Features
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66 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
I think “main” is meant to be “man”.
Death threats !
They really love their anime over there.
there some confusing in here . the court did not give the rights to obtain name from ISP to odex but to the copyrighted owner . also according to singapore laws , odex don’t have the rights to sued pr get money downloader even if it ask by copyrighted owner .if I not wrong it can only be done by through law firms or government dept .
yup and they really love suing people too
Is this the way we’re headed now?
Only people wining in all this are cocaine sniffing lawyers.
I can\’t wait until this happens world wide and they catch all you thieves, You all think that it\’s ok to steal peoples work, because You think they make to much money, You don\’t see us coming to your work and saying \” I think these people are making too much money everything they make now should be free\” do you?
I am an online affiliate trying to earn money to feed my family, and you guys think it\’s ok to steal what I am trying to make a living with?
Well it\’s not ok with me and I hope every last one of you get robbed one day or some bastard starts fucking with your business and I really hope it affects your family as all your theft has affected mine, fuck all you thieves,
VIVA LA GFY.COM
so in short:
Europe belongs to the Pirates
America belongs to the MAFIAA
and Asia could still swing either way.
[quote comment="275911"]
I am an online affiliate trying to earn money to feed my family, and you guys think it\’s ok to steal what I am trying to make a living with?
Well it\’s not ok with me and I hope every last one of you get robbed one day or some bastard starts fucking with your business and I really hope it affects your family as all your theft has affected mine, fuck all you thieves,
VIVA LA GFY.COM[/quote]
If you cant make a living by aactually going out to work and instead try to make a living off the web… deal with it, get over it or fuck off
[quote comment="275911"]
I am an online affiliate trying to earn money to feed my family
VIVA LA GFY.COM[/quote]
so you have a website with some banner ads, you family is gonna STARVE!
get a real f**king job you loser!
GFY ? What’s with the \ before every ‘ ?
Anyway. They won’t catch all us thieves as you say. Believe it or not, we’re all actually smarter than you imagine.
Oh.. and your comment
“You don\’t see us coming to your work and saying \” I think these people are making too much money everything they make now should be free\” do you?”
That happens all the time with corps outsourcing work and preferring to pay 3rd worlders to do the work because they work for virtually nothing.
what I angry in here is that odex manage to get away with this cover (the boss is one step to jail for scam) . If the copyrighted owner really going to after the file sharer , it won’t be done under odex name.
GFY you suck!
your shitty little webboard sucks!
your ads for porn and gambling suck!
your threats suck!
@ dwarfer, maybe you could ask your paper route boss if there is a vacancy for me, while your picking up your next bundle for delivery :)
@ KungfuTornado, I don\’t know why the \”\\\” is being added, It is not me doing it, it appears after I post my post.
Singapore has very strict legal system this is to be expected there
that’s so funny!
Where I come from animes & Co. are not really far-spread! They will be surprised how much their sales drop outside asia once we no longer have a chance to take a look at the fansubbed releases in order to determine if its worth buying it! And btw by the time it comes out here in most cases it’s so old that it becomes ‘new’ again!
[quote comment="275930"]@ KungfuTornado, I don\’t know why the \”\\\” is being added, It is not me doing it, it appears after I post my post.[/quote]
Then f***ing stop post here!
[quote comment="275954"]Singapore is Very Strict. Period.[/quote]
That said though, this whole fiasco has put me off anime altogether. I can live without it, and much less without Odex’s shoddy work. I will no longer collect any anime merchandise. I continue to support japanese games and their merchandising.
Sueing filesharers is just perpetrating the problem IMO. It’s not going to make people pay for their media if they have to shell out 3500$ on top of having to pay for DVD’s. Instead of going for the short term solution of trying to make a tidy sum now through draconian tactics that, in the long run, is only going to alineate potential customers, they should look into alternate forms of distribution as an alternative to piracy.
Definitely great living in a police state that’s pro-business.
yuck i feel bad for them. i suggest they either quit watching anime and start doing something meaningful or start using relakks or programs such as perfect dark for distributing their fansubs, never bow down to these assholes by buying the (local) dvds.
they should download REAL PORN instead
[quote comment="275912"]so in short:
Europe belongs to the Pirates
America belongs to the MAFIAA
and Asia could still swing either way.[/quote]
Love Norway and Europe :D
[quote comment="276021"]they should download REAL PORN instead[/quote]
[quote comment="276026"][quote comment="276021"]they should download REAL PORN instead[/quote][/quote]
[quote comment="276025"][quote comment="275912"]so in short:
Europe belongs to the Pirates
America belongs to the MAFIAA
and Asia could still swing either way.[/quote]
Love Norway and Europe :D[/quote]
Norway rule. Here they can’t sue anyone for downloading illegal. You can go to the police station and say “HEY, I’VE DOWNLOADED ILLEGAL!” without getting punished. :D
Because it’s not illegal to download, just to upload. :)
Singapore anime lovers > all fanatics. death threats to his family, wow. talk about taking it to another level.
Don’t know if the Japanese companies will pursue or not. In Japan downloading for personal use is completely legal, only the original up loaders are liable for action. Not to mention these companies are not loosing revenue from Singapore down loaders, seeing as Odex has already paid them for the product.
[quote comment="276021"]they should download REAL PORN instead[/quote]
Unfornately pR0n is also illegal in Singapore too.
I’ll make it as sane as possible in this comment thread.
This means that the Japanese will have full access over the IP addresses, not Odex. But there are no guarantees that Odex will not be allowed access to these lists, given the full cooperation of the Japanese companies towards Odex.
The downloaders will still be at risk, if the Japanese companies decided to pursue a legal action against them. But, it will be far-fetched to make them come to Singapore and initiate a legal lawsuit.
I might add that the list was obtained via BayTSP, which we all know, companies like them employ questionable tactics. There’s a lot going against them, both in terms of costs, and effort. I didn’t add in “goodwill” because I’m taking a Hobbesian view of the world.
This news might come as a temporary relief for downloaders, until the Japanese start rolling their bicycles over Malaya and b**tsecks them just like how Yamashita did in 1942.
mmmm.. buttsecks
maybe if you had any real imagination or strategy or talent for that matter, then your lame-ass site wouldnt be doing so poorly. there are literally thousands of sites exactly like yours on the internet.
youre just another blade of grass at the sod farm.
[quote comment="275911"]I can\’t wait until this happens world wide and they catch all you thieves, You all think that it\’s ok to steal peoples work, because You think they make to much money, You don\’t see us coming to your work and saying \” I think these people are making too much money everything they make now should be free\” do you?
I am an online affiliate trying to earn money to feed my family, and you guys think it\’s ok to steal what I am trying to make a living with?
Well it\’s not ok with me and I hope every last one of you get robbed one day or some bastard starts fucking with your business and I really hope it affects your family as all your theft has affected mine, fuck all you thieves,
VIVA LA GFY.COM[/quote]
Its an old story isn’t it? People started recording songs off of public radio to share with friends in the late 1950s early 60s. This caused the early RIAA to freak out. They witheld technology like cassette tapes, dubbing equipment for years to try and preserve their outdated business model. Then of course along came the VCR. People could now record their favorite show when they were away and even trade with friends! WOW! The MPAA went nuts trying to sue endlessly, this proved futile in the end. Now, people still like sharing mvoies, tv shows and music. The RIAA and MPAA are outdated business models. They refuse to keep up with the times. There is still money to be made when you embrace technology, not try to sue everyone on the face of the planet for GOD’s sake! Your best customers are now your wourst enemies? The very people that made your fortunes? Perhaps copyright laws aren’t human or humane? Theres a radical thought! Sharing is not and should not be a crime. When they wake up and smell the coffee it will be realized that sharing is a good thing. We are not thieves.
Lets take Britney Spears, (no not Shitney smears! be nice!) I researched it apparently Thanks to the ongoing child custody battle between Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, court documents have been released showing that Britney Spears still makes $737,868 a month - around £4 million a year.
http://www.hecklerspray.com/britney-spears-richer-than-youd-think/20079878.php
Does this sound like she is having trouble feeding her family? I think not. Britney just wants to party all nite. She is makin the money! Music sharers obviously effect her lifestyle one way or the other.
Hmmmm, so they make so much money that file sharing effects the artist very little? WOW! I’ll just bet that the MPAA made record profits for 2007. Let me google it for everyone here. MPA study: Brighter picture for movie industry
All-media revenue from pics up 8% to $42.6 billion
So even though people share movies they still make more money than they know what to do with? So much that they sue grandmothers for file sharing. Which is utterly heartless and cruel. File sharing is a civil offence, not criminal.
SEE: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ic5575a8c4f61aadd68a0d344f476d5da
I don’t pay for anime dvds because 1. they charge like 150 dollars for a 26 episode season 2. the subtitles are highly localized and suck balls 3. the really good shows come out 6 months, maybe a year after I can get it fansubbed and 4. the fansub groups offer hd video in their releases, their translations are oftentimes superior, they are very quick to release and they are nice to their fans.
Odex suing people rofl. I wouldnt buy shit from them. FANsubs mean just that, if they owned the rights, I doubt they would be going after people in rediculous lawsuits because they understand where the other fans are coming from when they download.
To them this is a labor of love. I hate distributors. They dont contribute anything to these shows or movies or oavs, but a bunch of guys in suits make millions of dollars a year on the backs of people with real talent.
Throttle BitTorrent as any faceless organisation will try to do, like hell will they ever succeed. I do have to admit the Internet’s getting narrower by far, but I have to say I’ve got faith in the fact this is only temporary.
[quote comment="276221"]Throttle BitTorrent as any faceless organisation will try to do, like hell will they ever succeed. I do have to admit the Internet’s getting narrower by far, but I have to say I’ve got faith in the fact this is only temporary.[/quote]
I have to disagree, the internet is not getting narrower, IMO its expanding more then ever before, its all about the light you look at it in. If you really look at the big picture.. P2P has gone mainstream, the world knows about it, but in the end all they have done is manage to increase pirating incredibly, and made more torrent sites for us to choose from.. after all you kill one there just gonna relocate or make 3 more.
IMO The production companies should work with fansubbers by having them put paid ads(which you cannot skip maybe?) in the fan subbed groups releases in exchange for not prosecuting them. The companies make money from the ads. The fansubbers get nothing cept a sense of security. And we get to see more crazy jap ads with the govenator. =D
Well that probably will not ever happen oh well.
I buy anime when it comes out in North America (if they haven’t heavily edited it that is). But the truth is I’m not waiting 3-5 years so the anime MIGHT come to NA. Getting fansubs is the only way I can watch anime over here (besides the many boxsets I have purchased from watching fansubs and liking it enough to go buy it).
Thank God I don’t download Anime.
Asians: 0
The Rest of Us: 1
[quote comment="275906"]Is this the way we’re headed now?
Only people wining in all this are cocaine sniffing lawyers.[/quote]
“America, FUCK YA! Comin’ to save the daaaayyy!”
[quote comment="275960"]That said though, this whole fiasco has put me off anime altogether. I can live without it, and much less without Odex’s shoddy work. I will no longer collect any anime merchandise. I continue to support japanese games and their merchandising.[/quote]
I agree, but think it’s a far too rational and logical approach to ever be employed by the likes of the MAFiAA.
after I watched the english subbed version of Azumanga Daioh, I swore off buying licensed anime forever. 2×2 Shinobuden is another one of them….those english actors made my ears bleed….”americanizing” every fucking sentence
And I don’t give a shit if I “pirate” it or not….your money isn’t going to the original creators, just to the people who turn inspiring amine into a american corporate gimmick
What a bunch of qeers these Odex guys are. So what they downloaded some animes, and you blame your shitty sales dropping 60% to be the work of some pirates? What they need to do is hire better market managers, it sounds like.
Yeah, why does it have to be always somebody else’s fault ?
I’ll keep the pirates from Singapure in my prayers.
These anime companies don’t see a huge financial opportunity when they see one … don’t fight the online anime distributors — work with them to figure out some sort of ad-supported scheme to distribute the anime … then everyone profits and the anime is watched by a much much larger audience …
the best solution here would be for everyone to stop purchasing anything from the companies who have funded and brought this case to the courts. (a boycott) What could they do then, other then wither and die as they deserve?
a boycott is a brilliant idea except its really hard to get enough people to participate and make a statement; there is just entirely too much self interest in the people today.
makes me wanna think more about downloading anime……does anyone know where i can get unedited fansubbed versions of DragonballZ?
GL HF an already weak industry and they are pressing charges on the few fans they have?? I’m guessing a plummit in sales…
hmm, well i download tons of anime, because you cant get it in the US, but once it comes to the US i do go out an buy it when they release an unedited/subtittled version that is, i cant stand how the US companies butcher a series with bad voice acting.
but seriously, if people dont want to pay $1000+ for an entire anime series, like dbz on dvd, with its 291 episodes, then the companies should look for other ways to distribute it, alot of anime fans are kids/teens and cant afford to spend such outrageous prices to watch a cartoon.
either way though, i think thier gonna end up failing in this, sure they may beable to go after people, but this is the internet, were all Anonymous, and when 1 person distributing anime gets taken down, 10 more rise up in thier place, Anime is an addiction, and when theres a demand, there are people willing to supply, same deal with drugies / drug dealers
looks to me, like there is gonna be some massive boycotting of alot of companies and industries, because of them fuckin over thier fans like this
@martin - amen dude. amen. Its a small community to say the least and this isnt going to help it. Some of the anime released in japan never even gets dubbed in english. And on top of that, even if it does, the voice actors they often get these days could make baby jesus cry.
Personally I believe that the anime distributors should endorse fansubbing and host it. It creates interest on an international level and provides them with a very powerful market monitoring tool so that specific areas can be targeted for retail.
Singnet wasn’t forced to give names… they gave it when asked…
“Lets take Britney Spears, (no not Shitney smears! be nice!) I researched it apparently Thanks to the ongoing child custody battle between Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, court documents have been released showing that Britney Spears still makes $737,868 a month - around £4 million a year.”
To be fair, does it make sense to judge this based on one of the richest and most famous people? What about the rank and file IP creators, the independent musicians that only sell 1000 copies of their albums, or independent game developers who only sell 200 copies? Those are pirated too. They’re far more numerous than the millionaires, and hurt a lot more by piracy.
For those who have not read up too much on this let me just pass on a key point of information. Odex’s anime releases are crap. Basically imagine paying retail for a bad bootleg. In the past there were even cases in which Odex didn’t even bother translating the series themselves and instead ripped the sub from fansubs.
Personally I try not to download anime licensed in america. If It hasn’t been released i’ll buy it from a store that sells “imported” anime or Ill watch it online but I have made it a personal oath not to download and burn my own anime.
[quote comment="275912"]so in short:
Europe belongs to the Pirates
America belongs to the MAFIAA
and Asia could still swing either way.[/quote]
I think in need to take a trip to europe in that case.
come to indonesia once in a while. or find a friend on indonesia. we here are nice to our neighbours who share the same interest. to some, who share the same necessity on anime.
we here have no rule (yet) on torrent or downloading anime. the only crime as i can recall ever pursued by local authority was to make money from copyrighted stuff. sharing is not a crime, as long as it is not used to make provit.
even so, in my town, we have a rental software shop that renting all kind of softwares with cracks included, and anime of (most) all kind.
singapore is a hell for anime for now? come to our place. we will (i will) definitely help my brothers&sisters who love anime.
email me if you can’t live without anime or disscuss it on a site that i know have disscussed some things about odex’s tyranny
ferre_kun@yahoo.com
http://www.anime2leech.com
—-
anime bless those who help spread it out
edit: in my town only, there are around more than ten rental software/anime spread accross the town, untouched by legal rights lol.
you can say it’s heaven of piracy it is.i’m not saying that i’m proud of that fact, but what can i do? the legal stuff never reached here, while buying it online costs too much (thanks to dollars exchange rate to rupiahs lol)
anyway, no need to buy monopolised anime distribution if the product is suks like hell. if they improved their products instead of pursuing the sharer, then it maybe worth consideration. until then, spread the word not to buy any product from it at all. you can find what you need right next door. country boundaries is not an issue for anime
—-
anime bless those who help spread it out
Some things you may not know that I bothered to find out…
1) Odex did not wage a flat $3500 fee. There were a few cases that came up to that amount, but not many.
2)Odex did not collect the money and never made a cent directly, nor will they.
3)fees included filing, lawyers etc. The proceeds are to go to the Copyright holders.
4)At this point, everything is in arbitration. No money has changed hands except court costs borne by Odex
5)Thanks to excessive downloading Geneon is closing its doors. All other distributors are cutting releases by 50% or more. Many, many hard-working anime fans are losing their dream jobs.
6)Without Distribution, Anime companies will begin to fold since they make their livings by selling their product.
To sum that las bit up. Bye-bye anime.
The company, Odex is Singapore’s biggest licensor, but only has a staff of about 50 people.
Anime is a small industry when compared to other entertainment companies. They don’t have a huge resources that big music and film companies have to withstand the onslaught of illegal downloading. They are suffering from the very fans that claim to support them. Many people claim to buy what they like and are just downloading to help them make good decisions. The numbers don’t back this claim up.
Geneon is the best example. They catered to the fans. Then tried to bring the best titles the fans wanted at a good price to market. They are all but gone now.
Singapore has a very high per-capita download rate. Odex is trying to fight that and also help their country to be a ligit player in the media market. Lucas, Universal and other producers are looking very closely at Asia which is notorious for all types of piracy.
I personally think the movie and music as well as anime industries need to change their business model. But, at this point, it looks doubtful that Anime will survive the transition without massive losses.
This is just my opinion, but it’s an informed one.
are you kidding me?? think about it for a second, any person from the US that can find a file called hagane no renkinjitsu without looking it up is probably not going to be caught for copywright… we are the guys you have fix your networks buddy… as far as the guy who posted about how that is the way he puts food on the table for his kids… i hope you have daughters you can put on the street to bring home the bacon, or else your sons are going to come home not wanting to sit down because you are backing a losing cause buddy. they could not stop the mix tape, they can’t stop this… get a real job!!
These days no one wants a real job. Easier to make money sitting at home online where all the vast internets of knowledge are there for the taking. Then you get jerks thinking so high of themselves and whatnot. To me piracy has gotten abit out of hand. Was better off small and resolute but who am I to judge. Hence all the tards floating around :/
How long can/will the media corps effectively do business by suing for profits? Wow, what our world has become….
[quote comment="275911"]I can\’t wait until this happens world wide and they catch all you thieves, You all think that it\’s ok to steal peoples work, because You think they make to much money, You don\’t see us coming to your work and saying \” I think these people are making too much money everything they make now should be free\” do you?
I am an online affiliate trying to earn money to feed my family, and you guys think it\’s ok to steal what I am trying to make a living with?
Well it\’s not ok with me and I hope every last one of you get robbed one day or some bastard starts fucking with your business and I really hope it affects your family as all your theft has affected mine, fuck all you thieves,
VIVA LA GFY.COM[/quote]
Fuck us? Well, we’re a flexible bunch of folk, change your condom every time and everyone should do fine… Once you’re into it, though, you might want to get a sponsorship from some powerdrink company…
As for you earning no money… Not everyone can get the best chance of survival these days… Usually, the folk who spend too much time ranting rather than DOING SOMETHING are, sooner or later, removed from the gene pool. At least that’s how it was going for the past few millions of years, and the outcomes are promising…
You either assimilate to changing environment, or you run out of pancakes. It’s really that simple.
if media was not ridiculously overpriced you would see an increase in sales and revenue. people often use the internet to find what particular type of movie or music they most enjoy. it results in people buying media they know they enjoy instead of not spending money on something they’re not sure about. i buy CDs/vinyl containing songs/albums that i already have.
who wants to spend $20US to buy a movie/cd? i don’t. i’d rather pay $10US and support the work instead of download the media illegally. however, a reasonable cost is too low for greedy corporations such as the RIAA/MPAA and similar groups. people will search for cost effective and simple method of getting what they want at a reasonable price. unfortunately, the current price is free, because of the industry’s inflexibility with prices and technology.
p.s.
anime is jejune, unless you’re a child. grow up.
Interesting footnote to add:
Odex is starting up it’s scam machine again.
Apparently they’re targing an unknown business ISP.
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