The companies calculated the damage based on 17 pirated comics
Kodoani.com – Japanese publishers Kadokawa, Shueisha and Shogakukan have filed a lawsuit against the website for pirating Japanese manga Mangalore in the amount of 1.9 billion yen (about 14.2 million US dollars – 333 billion VND) at the Tokyo District Court on Thursday. This number represents the estimated damage to the company due to piracy of 17 manga.
Các manga được đề cập trong vụ kiện bao gồm One Piece, Kingdom, YAWARA!, Dorohedoro, Overlord, Sgt. Frog, Wise Man’s Grandchild, The Rising of the Shield Hero, Trinity Seven, Hinamatsuri, Erased, Mushoku Tensei, Golden Rough, Kanojo wa Uso o Ai Shisugiteru, Karakuri Circus, Kengan Ashura và Tasogare Ryūseigun.
The Fukuoka District Court issued a guilty verdict in June 2021 against Romi Hoshino, aka Zakay Romi, the alleged administrator of Mangamura, on charges of copyright infringement and concealment of funds. guilty. Hoshino, 29, was sentenced to three years in prison, a fine of 10 million yen (about $91,100) and an additional fine of 62 million yen (about $565,000). The second revenue is based on the 62 million yen in revenue that Hoshino earned from the website and deposited into foreign bank accounts.
A representative from Shueisha held a press conference following the ruling, and said that they believed the sentence was appropriate, and hoped the verdict would have a deterrent effect. The representative also said, “If the works that people have devoted themselves to creating are given away for free, it will damage the foundation for creating interesting works.”
The Tokyo District Court ordered two advertising agencies, MM Lab and Global Net, to pay 11 million yen (approximately US$96,303) for inviting advertisements on Mangamura in December 2021. Manga creator Ken Akamatsu ( Love Hina, Negima!, UQ Holder!) filed lawsuits against both agencies, alleging that his manga was illegally posted on Mangamura. His lawyer said that this is the first time an advertising agency has been held responsible for manga piracy.
Judge Kо̄ichi Tanaka ruled that since Mangamura infringes copyright through piracy, the agencies that pay advertising fees to the site operator also support piracy. He also noticed that sales of Akamatsu’s manga were down due to piracy.
Mangamura launched in 2016. In May 2018, Japanese authorities revealed that they were actively investigating Mangamura after Kodansha and other publishers filed a criminal complaint with the police department in Summer to Fall 2017.
The Japanese government officially asked internet service providers in Japan to block access to three pirated manga websites including Mangamura in April 2018. Mangamura was then inaccessible on the 17th. April 2018. However, the Asahi Shimbun on the same day reported that the site was not accessible due to Internet service providers blocking the site. According to the newspaper’s source from a service provider, this action cannot be taken by anyone but the administrators of the site.
Hoshino was residing in the Philippines in 2019, and the Philippine Immigration Department detained him in July of that year and extradited him to Japan in September of that same year. Police also arrested another individual allegedly linked to Mangamura named Wataru Adachi in August 2019, as well as two other individuals: a 26-year-old male named Kōta Fujisaki and a 24-year-old female named Shiho Itō, both reported. Hoshino’s friends. Fujisaki pleaded guilty, while Itō declared his innocence in September 2019.
According to Japan’s Overseas Content Distribution Association (CODA), between September 2017 and February 2018, users visited Mangamura about 620 million times. The association estimates that this caused damage worth 319.2 billion yen (about $2.92 billion) to copyright holders in Japan during that time.
Theo: Kodoani.com
