UPDATE 20/11/2007: I have confirmations from an Odex employee that the whole thing was a mistake made by BayTSP. LOL. Show’s over, guys. Expect damage control to kick in soon.
UPDATE AGAIN: It seems that I wasn’t too clear. I have independent confirmation from a current Odex employee that the whole thing was a mistake. This is not based on any comments left in this entry, but rather first hand information from the employee himself.
UPDATE 21/11/2007: Read The New Paper’s article. LOL.
Okay, now the shit really hits the fan. After months of silence, Odex has resumed its attack, this time on an international scale. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past year or so and don’t know who Odex is, please refer to Wikipedia.
Godwin’s Law be damned
Reports are emerging that people from USA, France, Japan and probably various other countries are receiving warnings from their ISPs about illegal anime downloads.
In particular, the French ISP Club Internet and the Japanese ISP USEN attached logs from BayTSP, sent on behalf of Odex, with their warning e-mails. This clearly identifies Odex/AVPAS as the source of the infringement complaints. USA’s Comcast did not identify the right holder, but the timing of this whole thing and the similar format of the logs indicate that this is probably not a coincidence.
Odex is definitely responsible for the warnings.
Some important paragraphs from the e-mails included after the break.
Club Internet (France)
Club Internet – T-Online FranceName
address
FranceCountryDear Sir or Madam:
BayTSP, Inc. (“BayTSP”) swears under penalty of perjury that it is authorized to act on behalf of ODEX Private Limited/Anti Video Piracy Association (Singapore) (collectively known as ODEX/AVPAS), the exclusive licensees and/or authorized agents of the owners of copyright materials and interests (the Copyright Owners) that is protected in Singapore under applicable copyright laws in force and enacted pursuant to various international treaties. BayTSP’s search of the protocol listed below has detected infringements of exclusive copyright interests on your IP addresses as detailed in the attached report.
BayTSP has reasonable good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of in the attached report is not authorized by the Copyright Owners, their agents, or the law. The information provided herein is accurate to the best of our knowledge. The attached documentation specifies the exact location of the infringement.
Attachment:
Contact BayTSP, authorized agent for ODEX PRIVATE LIMITED/AVPAS at the address listed above or via email should you have any concerns or questions at compliance@baytsp.com. Also please note that this infringement notice contains an XML tag that can be used to automate the processing of this data.
Evidentiary Information:
Notice ID: 61192
Asset: Ouran High School Host Club
Protocol: BitTorrent
IP Address: 89.85.xx.xx
DNS: i07v-89-85-xx-xx.d4.club-internet.fr
File Name:
[Nerae]_Ouran_High_School_Host_Club_22_[57603381].avi
File Size: 370843648
Timestamp: 11 Nov 2007 06:17:33 GMT
Last Seen Date: 11 Nov 2007 06:17:33 GMT
URL: http://bt.nerae.com:7072/announce
Username (if available):
[ Source: bikasuishin ]
USEN GyaO Hikari (Japan)
æ ªå¼ä¼šç¤¾ ＵＳＥＮ
ã„ã¤ã‚‚「GyaO å…‰ã€ã‚’ã”利用ã„ãŸã ãã€èª ã«ã‚ã‚ŠãŒã¨ã†ã”ã–ã„ã¾ã™ã€‚
ã“ã®åº¦å¤–部よりã€ã€Œ221.251.XXX.XXXã€ã®IPアドレスã«ã¦å„ä¼æ¥ãƒ»å€‹äººãŒè‘—作権 を有ã™ã‚‹ãƒ‡ãƒ¼ã‚¿ã‚’公開ã—ã¦ã„ã‚‹ã¨ã®ã”連絡をå—ã‘ã¦ãŠã‚Šã¾ã™ã€‚弊社ã«ã¦ç¢ºèªã•ã›ã¦é ‚ãã¾ã—ãŸã¨ã“ã‚ã€ã€Œï¼°ï¼©ï¼®ï¼¡ï¼®ï¼³ï¼«ï¼¹ï¼³ï¼¡ï¼ï¼µï¼¥ï¼¬ã€æ§˜ã®ã”利用ã®ç’°å¢ƒã‹ã‚‰é€ä¿¡ã•ã‚ŒãŸäº‹ãŒåˆ¤æ˜Žè‡´ã—ã¾ã—ãŸã€‚
著作者ã«ç„¡æ–ã§è¤‡è£½ãƒ»è¨˜è¼‰ãƒ»åŠ 工・使用ç‰ã‚’ã™ã‚‹è¡Œç‚ºã¯ã€è‘—作権ã®ä¾µå®³ã«ã‚ãŸã‚Šã¾ã™ã€‚弊社約款上ã€ã€Œ 当社もã—ãã¯ä»–人ã®çŸ¥çš„財産所有権（特許権ã€å®Ÿç”¨æ–°æ¡ˆã€è‘—作権ã€æ„åŒ æ¨©ã€å•†æ¨™æ¨©ç‰ï¼‰ãã®ä»–ã®æ¨©åˆ©ã‚’侵害ã™ã‚‹è¡Œç‚ºã¾ãŸã¯ä¾µå®³ã™ã‚‹æã‚Œã®ã‚る行為（著作権侵害防æ¢ã®ãŸã‚ã®æŠ€è¡“çš„ä¿è·æ‰‹æ®µã‚’回é¿ã™ã‚‹ãŸã‚ã®æƒ…å ±ã€æ©Ÿå™¨ã¾ãŸã¯ã‚½ãƒ•ãƒˆã‚¦ã‚§ã‚¢ç‰ã‚’æµé€šã•ã›ã‚‹è¡Œç‚ºã‚’å«ã¿ã¾ã™ã€‚）ã€ã¯ç¦æ¢ã¨ã•ã›ã¦é ‚ã„ã¦ãŠã‚Šï¼ˆç¬¬29æ¡ï¼(5)ï¼ã‚¢ï¼‰ã€è¦ç´„é•å行為ã«é–¢ã—ã¾ã—ã¦ã¯åˆ©ç”¨åœæ¢ã¨ã•ã›ã¦é ‚ãå ´åˆã‚‚ã”ã–ã„ã¾ã™ã€‚
今後ã¨ã‚‚該当ã™ã‚‹è¡Œç‚ºãŒç¶™ç¶šã•ã‚ŒãŸå ´åˆã€ä»–ã®ãŠå®¢æ§˜ã‚„外部ã®ãƒãƒƒãƒˆãƒ¯ãƒ¼ã‚¯ã«å¯¾ã—ã¦è¿·æƒ‘ãŒã‹ã‹ã‚Šã¾ã™ãŸã‚ã€æ—©æ€¥ãªå¯¾å¿œã‚’å¿…è¦ã¨ã—ã¦ãŠã‚Šã¾ã™ã€‚
Attachment:
Contact BayTSP, authorized agent for ODEX PRIVATE LIMITED/AVPAS at the address listed above or via email should you have any concerns or questions at compliance@baytsp.com. Also please note that this infringement notice contains an XML tag that can be used to automate the processing of this data.
Evidentiary Information:
Notice ID: 35082
Asset: SHUGO CHARA
Protocol: BitTorrent
IP Address: 221.251.XXX.XXX
DNS: 221x251xXXXxXXX.ap221.ftth.ucom.ne.jp
File Name:
[Formula]_Shugo_Chara!_-_01_[h264][E1719697].mkv
File Size: 147505790
Timestamp: 12 Nov 2007 12:43:44 GMT
Last Seen Date: 12 Nov 2007 12:43:44 GMT
URL: http://tracker.scarywater.net:443/announce
Username (if available):
[ Source: Quarkboy on AnimeSuki ]
Comcast (USA)
Dear Comcast High-Speed Internet Subscriber:
Comcast has received a notification by a copyright owner, or its authorized agent, reporting an alleged infringement of one or more copyrighted works made on or over Comcast’s High-Speed Internet service (the ‘Service’). The copyright owner has identified the Internet Protocol (‘IP’) address associated with your Service account at the time as the source of the infringing works. The works identified by the copyright owner in its notification are listed below. Comcast reminds you that use of the Service (or any part of the Service) in any manner that constitutes an infringement of any copyrighted work is a violation of Comcast’s Acceptable Use Policy and may result in the suspension or termination of your Service account.
Attachment:
[ Source: aldraek on AnimeSuki ]
The introductory paragraph which identifies BayTSP and Odex/AVPAS was removed from e-mails forwarded by Comcast. But since all three evidential BitTorrent logs share the exact same formatting, there’s not much room for doubt. They were all sent by BayTSP.
Comcast is known for actively interfering with BitTorrent packets on top of throttling, so they are probably overjoyed by this development. Bastards.
Does anyone know if Odex won its case against Pacific Internet? Judging by this latest bold move, I would guess that it did. But still, does anyone have confirmations?
Is this the beginning of the end of fansubbing? Will Odex succeed? Can they handle the backlash that is on its way? And is the cake really a lie? Find out in the next episode!
UPDATE: By the way, the Wikipedia article is outdated. The hearing for Odex vs PacNet was indeed postponed by the judge, but the rescheduled hearing took place three days ago on the 16th. You can read the court document in PDF. (Scroll down to page 19.)
I believe that the timing of this can’t possibly be a coincidence. So, once again, does anyone know what the ruling was?
Question is … So is xdcc and ddl still safe?
According to the Wikipedia entry[1] related to this case,
“The appeal began on 2007-10-03 before Justice Woo Bih Li in the High Court, and the first session was adjourned to allow Odex add more affidavits in support of its appeal.[9] Odex flew Mark Ishikawa (CEO of BayTSP) and representatives of four Japanese studios, including TV Tokyo and Toei Animation, into Singapore to help the company prepare and testify. The Japanese companies announced their intention to file lawsuits themselves should Odex fail. The High Court has yet to set a new hearing date.[9]
”
[1]
[9] High Court adjourns Odex’s appeal to give lawyers more time, Chua Hian Hou, The Straits Times, 2007-10-03 ()
Fansubs will prevail!! Even if it has to go underground!
ODEX WILL NEVER SUCCEED!! OTAKUS UNITE!!
ODEX WILL FALL BENEATH THE MIGHT OF A MILLION ANIME FANS!!!!
THE CAKE IS A LIE!!!
l-lawliet: Yes, definitely.
Rasqual: I am pretty sure that wiki entry is outdated.
Odex *might* have actually been able to control illegal downloading in Singapore alone. The anime community in SG isn’t that big, at least, not as big as other countries.
But to go against the anime community of the world (Yes, it’s possible to use the term ‘world’ considering that France, USA and of cource, Japan, are probably the top 3 countries with the most number of anime fans) is just insane.
Haha, I wonder if Stephen Sing/Odex bashing will be the new 4Chan meme… Bring on the “death threats”!!
I mus say Odex really need to work on their PR, given that the opening words of the first main paragraph of their Wiki article are ‘Basically Odex is the most hated name . . .’
This is absurd. Odex do not hold the licensing rights in those countries and are not legal representatives of the Japanese right-holders there, even if they are recognized as such here in Singapore.
One thing you all might wish to take note of is the Screenwriters’ Guild strike in America. They are on strike mainly because of the outdated contracts on new media and their cut of the profits. It might not be directly related to anime but it is likely to have a large impact on how the authorities deal with filesharing and other forms of multimedia entertainment in the future.
Btw for those using Japanese P2P software.
Are perfectdark and share still safe?
Hey, law student/otaku here.
Just to let the community know that while a hearing may be a scheduled for a certain day, the proceedings themselves – particularly for civil litigation may take a few months and the ruling of the court will probably take some time as well. I’m checking all the domestic legal databases to see if a summary is out.
@Qad
Don’t forget Italy! The Italian subs actually usually appear earlier than the French subs on tokyotosho, at least for the anime I watch.
Yay, another SME successfully going international, the powers that be must be so proud.
On a more serious note, sending a violation notice to a Japanese ISP for something that should be on free-to-air TV is a bit strange (to say the least) does ODEX even have the right in those countries???
It appears that Odex does indeed have the specific permission of the Japanese studios to carry this out.
But whether or not copyright holders can legally delegate such duties to an unrelated third party, I am not sure. You have to consult your local laws.
No, ODEX have no right in France and in the example, Ouran Host Club is not licensed in France but Berne Convention is available.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works
Man it is like restricting anime fans from BREATHING!!! WHY DOES ODEX WANT TO KILL US!! WHY CAN’T THEY JUST LEAVE THE STATUS QUO!!! AND LET US LIVE OUR LIVES WATCHING ANIME!!!!!
Xillon, indeed.
Odex does NOT have distribution rights outside of SE Asia.
But Berne Convention gives provisions for copyright holders to enforce their rights even in countries where their works are not being distributed.
And the right holders, in this case the Japanese studios, have delegated that task to Odex. Again, I am not sure if it is something that can be legally delegated to a party who is not even a regional licensee for the work in question. But the fact remains that they have done so.
OK, this might just be me being daft, but how can a Singapore-based distributor/bastard company send out these things on the charge on copyright infringement for series that aren’t even licensed yet and in territories(Europe, NA) they have absolutely no control over and don’t even operate in(I think)?
And how would this benefit them anyway?
Going by the right of the author, who will they claim are the actual “authors”? The original mangaka for anime produced after the manga? Or the publisher?
Because in this case, while
“Where the author cannot be identified, e.g., for anonymous works and collective works, the copyright is exercised by the original publisher.”
applies. The anime itself is still a derivative work of the author/mangaka.
hmm…anyone notice on the avpas website ( http://www.avpas.com.sg/AVPAS_Authorized.html )?? They have not updated their so-called authorized title…As referred to http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=58005, some of the anime (higurashi, gundam 00 and shugo clara) is not there in the list of avpas. So, is their moment of authorization in proper procedure, or they just whack all the new anime that are available on torrent???
Seems like the Japanese animation companies really want to get rid of fansubs. First asking for the help of the U.S. to stop circulating fansubs, then now this.
Time to start learning Japanese?
bakabakashi:
Or Odex/AVPAS is too lazy to keep that list updated.
Aren’t they attacking WRONG targets?
Pingback: Odex out for world domination! « Sekai wa〠Utsukushii deshou?
Chraen:
Raws might come under attack too. The whole fiasco is over alleged sales lost through downloads of anime episodes by p2p. These actions are probably not going to increase sales anyway.
so does anyone know if perfectdark/share are safe?
there’s not enough channels in america that show anime for there to be anything more than fansubs, at least not in my region. without fansubs I wouldn’t’ve bought most of the anime I own, and some of the anime I downloaded might not make it over here, but that doesn’t mean I’ll not look up the company’s other works and watch them, then probably buy them. But if they did what radiohead did (http://digg.com/music/New_Radiohead_album_In_Rainbows_pay_what_you_think_it_s_worth) which is pay what you want for their work (which could be 0) and/or buy the box which has extra features that are not with the download….. now that would be cool………
Enzer Miliard:
This is why the corporate brass really ought to get their heads of the rotten, reeking, retarded 1950s copyright butt-plan they are adhereing to. This goes for every industry affected by filesharing, movies, TV shows, anime, music. (games too, though game companies seem to be keeping quiet for now).
quendidil – True, raws may come under attack as well. From the way things are going, I will probably end up finding a new hobby.
I’m not exactly sure that it’s still about sales lost now – the Japanese studios seem to just want to cut down on infringements of their copyright. What damage do fansubs do to their sales after all?
I suspect that Odex’s international action has something to do with their rolling out their video online service. There was this article in the Chinese newspaper interviewing Goh at the anime convention (?) in Tokyo. He mentioned their video online will be available this month and they were trying to convince the Japanese that their business model can protect their works. Maybe they are cracking down internationally just to show the Japanese.
…now Odex is trying to kill out fansub dl-ing in USa and france?
doesn’t look very good imo, things could complicate if some company like ADV joins in and make another big fuss.
I wonder how Odex even get the revenue to do such insane things.
>I wonder how Odex even get the revenue to do such insane things.
That is what I’d like to know too.
I hope it does not create some kind of legal “wave” for other distributors. The last thing you’d want is every country taking action like ODEX is doing.
Then you’d have to route everything through a secure channel. blarg.
i guess odex just sucks, they are just desperate for money. what they are doin is violation of country authority… or something like that. who in the world they think they are to lecture other country and even send letters to the creating anime country, which is japan?
OK, for those who are willing to hear me out.
One of Odex’s directors have a sort of indirect financial backing from an unlisted company in China, so they are more than willing to splurge on this nonsensical spree. Can somebody find me that link to the company’s shareholder info?
2nd, it’s a step backwards, but as RIAA fiasco goes, Odex is emulating the same fiasco. So people, relakks. It’s not a penalty goal yet (albeit an on-target shot).
3rd, Odex is playing Mr. Sheriff here. The only challenge you need to face are those who created the shows. Face it: Odex is like a Jack Thompson & Uwe Boll combined into one.
4th, this is a final “face-saving” measure by Odex to scare the hell out of anime fans. If anything goes, everyone knows Odex now, and everyone will equate Odex with all the RIAA negativity.
5th: I guess the Big 5 Content Providers are too late on this scales of economics. Odex has shot itself by acting the same way as the Big 5, and I wish all of them to hell and back. (I bloody love this blog post!)
Now, guys, it’s time for you to send out your zigs, Zakus, Justice & Freedom (or for that matter, any Gundam models from any timeline series), arm slaves, armored core (for the hardcore), any sentai robots, F-18s, Su-34s, whats-that-Kamina-drill-thingy and all arsenal.
Time for some otaku payback time.
Now it’ll be much harder to download anime. It may be a nightmare if we have to watch ODEX’s shitty “legal” stuffs, instead of getting good quality videos.
Pingback: A Message from Odex to the World - All Your Animes Are Belong To Us! « .:~+┼ ĻũşŤřÅůŞ Ŗꥼm ┼+~:.
TP : http://sgcafe.com/showthread.php?t=36640
Seriously, when will all this shit by Odex finally ends? They are seriously trying to wipe out animes from the face of the earth just like an epidemic. Yes a good word to describe them would be ‘epidemic’.
To them, this is justice. To us, this is exactly the same as mental tortures.
Pingback: Odex Declares War Against The World » Thoughts » Neko Kyou’s Anime Blog
well, even if they wan to stop illegal downloading, do they have to interfere other countries’ business? i mean, i am not from japan or where, i am a singaporean, and with them interfering with other country, its like we are somehow desperate to kill people not to stop illegal downloading, but for money. get wut i mean?
Does ODEX license Hentai? because if they don’t, there’s still hope. orz.
You gotta wonder what comcast is thinking, not disclosing its source and all. Makes you wonder if they fear that finding out it is a Singaporean company would make customers laugh. Making customers think they are under threat from a domestic company just seems to serve comcast’s purpose.
Also… THE CAKE IS A LIE, THE CAKE IS A LIE, THE CAKE IS A LIE!!! “Comcast is like, you’re gonna get sued. And you were like, NO WAY!! Wasn’t that so much fun?” lol
I’m using Comcast OTL
BTW DM, that picture is COMPLETELY misleading. ODEX DOES NOT have a cute goth loli leading them.
And so the great anime wars begins…
I think some of the third world countries are safe because most of them don’t care much on “copyright”.
GOD!!! whats friggin wrong with them man! Does it mean that anime series which are unliscened is not allowed too?
P/S:DM,may i use some of ur info on my blog? I will give credit to you and a link to the original post. thk you.
IP-address? Since when does an IP-address prove anything?
1) In Europe most of the IP-addresses are dynamic, therefore it changes every time you dial in. (I don’t know if it’s the same with most Japanese and American providers.)
2) The IP-address doesn’t show the person using the computer.
3) It just takes a little mistake on part of the provider (misconfigured switch) and the IP shown is not yours.
So how on earth do they want to prove that the person receiving their letter/e-mail actually downloaded the stuff? This sh*t doesn’t proof anything.
Also, isn’t it a little bit snotty of them to think that their laws apply to everywhere else? US copyright laws don’t apply to everywhere else, German copyright laws don’t apply to everywhere else and Singaporean copyright laws don’t apply to everywhere else either. If I do something that is perfectly legal where I life, but would get me hanged in (e. g.) Iran, so what? It’s not like I can be prosecuted for that, because this is not Iran. It’s the same thing with copyright laws (different countries -> different laws).
That’s the reason why the RIAA and the MPAA can’t do anything against the Swedish BitTorrent tracker ‘The Pirate Bay’, the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) just doesn’t apply to Sweden.
That said, I just hope no one buys their crap. No one should financially support their school bully behaviour.
no cash -> no stupid copyright enforcement campaigns
Shinn Agami@ For now, it might be even much safer downloading hentai than to download decent animes…
well, they confiscated some servers from Pirate Bay, it didn´t help much…
Frankly speaking, I´m afraid, not for being sued but the way things are moving now feels like heading towards the ultra-controlled-big-brother-sees-you society that just doesn´t work in reality.
I just hope the stupid swedish government get´s a hold of this, then they´ll happily succumb to this idiocy and then hell will go out of busniess, not because to few souls are sent there but rather there won´t be enough place for everyone…
And when does fiction get reality? It seems to be that sooner or later there will be a V for Vendetta setting in real life. And it´s just closing in on everyone :(
And if something doesn´t sound right, I have to blame it on that it´s 3:11 AM here in sweden and I should have been in bed a long time ago.
IPs may be dynamically assigned, I believe there are logs that are kept that show who was using which IP at the point in time, where they can refer back to when they catch hold of an IP.
And Fabian, the IP address in itself is actually a very weak case. What they`re doing is just to throw some legal looking letter, along with whatever little bits of evidence they have to scare you into thinking that you`d get your ass busted because they have lawyers and evidence, then you`d pay whatever renumerations they`d ask for.
I believe it`s been said before, but catching your IP on a torrent tracker is the equivalent of saying that you`ve robbed a convenient store because they saw you enter the store on the day itself, or because your name was planted at the scene of crime.
I`ve read up an article where this guy managed to get his name on a tracker without even using a BitTorrent client[something about the protocol being HTTP, so all he needed to do was to put the address of a tracker into his internet browser].
Beowulf Lee:
I think that’s a guy…
Fabian:
Singapore copyright laws may not apply to you, but German copyright laws do. Odex can take legal actions against infringers under the laws of their own country.
just so you guys know, they’re hated by the general population in sunny singapore :)
OH SHI- Wait… well, you can’t really tell from that picture.
You know, looking at how retarded the MPAA is, I highly doubt this will actually do anything. The only result I can think of would be giving Singapore in general a bad name amongst international anime fans (even though you guys hate them the most).
Leon: not really.
Thanks to mainstream media bias against copy-infringement, the layman singaporean will have either have an ‘ok what’ idea of Odex or a ‘simi taiji’ attitude to the whole issue.