Odex to hire independent auditor to show sincerity
To prove it is not profiteering from the enforcement actions, Odex
will hire an independent auditor to go through its accounts at the
end of the case. And every extra dollar will be donated to charity,
said Odex director Stephen Sing. Odex is seeking between $3,000 and
$5,000 from each illegal downloader. Said Mr Sing: "We are just
trying to recover the costs incurred for this (legal)
action."
.
The costs include lawyers' fees and payment to Internet
investigation firm BayTSP. Odex also has to pay the ISPs to reveal
their subscribers' identities one asked for up to $150 per IP
address, said Mr Sing. Out of the 1,000 IP addresses tracked down
through SingNet, there were only 400 subscribers, as each user is
typically assigned up to four IP addresses. Compensation was sought
from 300 "heavy" illegal downloaders.
.
Odex has settled 105 cases, one of which involved a nine-year-old
child most were in their late teens to mid-20s. Odex's lawyer Lau
Kok Keng said it had gone to the police at first but was advised to
gather the evidence including downloaders' identities on its
own.
.
Looking ahead, Odex, which will launch a video-on-demand website
today, is aiming for a "free and legal alternative" for fans by
broadcasting anime on free-to-air television. Recently, Singapore
became the first country outside Japan to broadcast D.Gray-Man,
said Odex managing director Peter Go, with more titles under
negotiation.
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/208537.asp
Japanese anime firms close ranks with Odex They pledge court action
if local provider's appeal fails
Loh Chee Kong
[email protected]
SOME were flown in from Japan. Others appeared on video to show
their support of their local representative, anime distributor
Odex, which has come under flak from fans for its court actions
against illegal downloaders.
.
At a press conference held by Odex yesterday, the message from nine
anime copyright holders including some of Japan's biggest
animation studios was clear: They are prepared to take legal
action against the wrongdoers directly, should the Singapore courts
reject Odex's bid to do so.
.
After getting court orders to force Internet service providers
(ISPs) SingNet and StarHub to hand over subscribers' data, Odex's
crackdown on illegal downloading hit a roadblock last Thursday,
when the court rejected a similar application against Pacific
Internet (PacNet) on the basis that Odex as a sub-licensee was
not in a position to file the application. Odex is appealing
against the decision.
.
Remarking that protecting copyright in Singapore "is more difficult
than we thought", said international sales and marketing manager
Fumiki Yamazaki from Showgate, one of the four Japanese companies
in town. He said his firm will not hesitate to "go straight to
court" if necessary. Its stance was affirmed by all the other
copyright holders present.
.
The latter were understandably aggrieved, said Odex's director
Stephen Sing, as illegal downloading here was rampant.
.
According to data collated by Silicon Valley-based Internet sleuth
firm BayTSP, in the past 10 months, there were 483,310 counts of
illegal anime downloading, mainly through peer-to-peer file sharing
protocol BitTorrent. This makes Singapore the country with the
highest number of illegal downloading counts per capita, at 10.89
per cent far ahead of second-placed Sweden at 3.70 per
cent.
.
Odex's managing director Peter Go added: "Even in the past month,
when there was so much coverage on the case, the count went down by
only 17 per cent (compared to July)."
.
Countering online allegations that anime fans had no choice but to
turn to illegal downloads due to the poor quality of their DVDs, Mr
Go pointed out that fans in focus groups "could not tell the
difference" between Odex's products and those sold in Japan when
screened on "a 42-inch plasma TV".
.
As for complaints about the accuracy of the DVD subtitles, Mr Go
said the firm had to abide by censorship requirements. "For
example, in Fruits Basket, some of the dialogue had to do with love
between two boys, so we changed it to them being best friends. As a
result, we got bombarded for having poor subtitles," he said.
.
According to Mr Go, Odex represents 32 copyright holders and
distributes 90 per cent of the anime titles sold here.
.
In the past two years, its DVD sales have fallen by more than 60
per cent. "We hope to achieve at least an 80-to-90-per-cent
reduction in illegal downloading. Whether it's realistic or not,
we'll have to see," he said.
.
In other countries, noted TV Tokyo Corporation's manager Yukio
Kawasaki, most culprits stop downloading illegally once they have
received a complaint letter from the licensee. He said Japanese
animation studios usually leave it to their local representatives
to take action against copyright infringers.
.
Based on exchanges with anime fans here, Mr Sing said Odex
"understands they will not stop downloading just because we sent
them a warning letter".
.
Toei Animation Enterprises' manager Ryuji Kochi said he "regretted"
the negative publicity Odex's legal action had generated. He
reiterated that it "takes many people's work" to create
animation.
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/208525.asp
