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’.
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66 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
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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.
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