from mypaper:
Illegal anime downloaders are not off the
hook
ANIME distributor Odex will not be
getting its hands on the names of
customers who had allegedly
downloaded animated Japanese
cartoons.
Its suit was dismissed by the High
Court yesterday, The Straits Times
reported.
Odex had attempted to obtain the
names of the PacNet (previously called
Pacific Internet) customers who had
allegedly downloaded the anime.
Instead, the High Court ordered the
Internet service provider to reveal their
identities to six Japanese anime studios.
In a verbal judgment in the High
Court, Justice Woo Bih Li said that since
Odex could not sue downloaders under
Singapore’s Copyright Act, there was no
reason it should be allowed to obtain the
names of the alleged downloaders.
This is the same reason District Judge
Ernest Lau had given for turning down
Odex’s request for the names last
September.
Odex had appealed the decision, and
had subsequently made submissions to
add six Japanese anime studios to its
case.
Justice Woo granted this request.
Since these studios owned the
copyright to the animes and could sue,
they will have access to the downloaders’
names, he said.
