RIAA-style lawsuits hit Singapore anime scene

[angelneo]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070827-riaa-style-lawsuits-hit-singapore-anime-scene.html

I'm not sure if any of you guys are interested in this piece of news, but since it has been posted on arstechnica.com, here goes. Literally thousands of Singaporeans (~2000 so far) have been slapped with a letter threatening to sue them for copyright infringement unless they pay the settlement fee which is approx USD2000-3000. The Singaporean anime community is pretty upset about this especially since the company initiating the crack down isn't that fantastic (local company holding onto 90% of the anime titles licenses is still releasing VCD with dubious subtitles).

<more information can be found in the article>

I'm not too sure about the whole situation but I believe it can be handled with much more grace especially from a business standpoint.

 

[bousozoku]

I've been watching this over on ClubSNAP. People are worried and looking for legal guidance, which isn't surprising considering that so many pirate videos and music, apparently.

Odex hasn't even distributed most of the anime but they're being commissioned to go after the pirates.

 

[Abstract]

I think this was inevitable. I'm guessing that in 20 years, an amazing 5% of people in China will have paid for some form of Windows.

BayTSP never testified on behalf of Odex (Go did not even produce an affidavit from the company saying that he had retained their services), and all that Odex's director had to show for his claim were "articles and FAQ information on BayTSP's web site." Bizarre.

I'm so glad that the days of requiring solid evidence is gone. It slowed down the judicial process and made fining people, suing people, and throwing people in jail too difficult.

 

[angelneo]

On legal grounds, Odex (the company that own the license/sub-license) has every right to sue based on copyright infringement. But what put off the anime fans is that Odex has the monopoly on anime license in Singapore, it take them months to release them and they are in VCD, the resolution is so bad and the dubbing is terrible as well. It kind of feels like slap in the face when they sue you for not buying their inferior products.

Worse of all, one of the owner of the company (anime fan too) is found bragging in the forums.
http://geekyrojak.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/odex-with-the-smoking-gunbabe/
(pardon the singlish slang)

The whole affair is a PR disaster.

 

[flowagner]

I think this was inevitable. I'm guessing that in 20 years, an amazing 5% of people in China will have paid for some form of Windows.



I'm so glad that the days of requiring solid evidence is gone. It slowed down the judicial process and made fining people, suing people, and throwing people in jail too difficult.

gosh ... reading your post makes me kinda aggressive. it's simply plain stupid to buy something you can get for free. just because "throwing people in jail" is great america's way to deal with "piracy" without any manifest proof, this should clearly NOT be the way for the rest of the civilized world.

i mean come on, you can't be serious with what you are writing dude ... isn't america so damn proud about it's democracy where - i recite - everyone has the right to a fair trial? is a trial fair if there is no legal ground for any evidence just to speed up process? i mean imagine how things would be if the only aspect of judging would be in favor for a speedy trial ... somebody who is convicted of first degree murder has to pay with his life if there isn't even a solid ground of evidence against him? isn't it: "in dubio pro reo" (in case of doubt, for the defendant) ... ?

the fact that i did not sleep this night might be the reason for me not getting the sarcasm in your post, please let me know if it was intended in such way. if not, feel free to reply

 

[bousozoku]

On legal grounds, Odex (the company that own the license/sub-license) has every right to sue based on copyright infringement. But what put off the anime fans is that Odex has the monopoly on anime license in Singapore, it take them months to release them and they are in VCD, the resolution is so bad and the dubbing is terrible as well. It kind of feels like slap in the face when they sue you for not buying their inferior products.

Worse of all, one of the owner of the company (anime fan too) is found bragging in the forums.
http://geekyrojak.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/odex-with-the-smoking-gunbabe/
(pardon the singlish slang)

The whole affair is a PR disaster.

Well, you know that they're not going to release full quality DVD versions simply because they'll go to the expense and a few people will buy them and many will copy them. What about Malaysia? I'd bet it's tough to even find an original because so many fakes are available. After all, a typical DVD here might go for $20 or RM 70 and you can get it somewhere for RM 10.

 

[crenz]

I think this was inevitable. I'm guessing that in 20 years, an amazing 5% of people in China will have paid for some form of Windows.

Singapore != China.