Odex — having your cake and eating it too
UPDATE 20/11/2007: Note to foreign readers. This article is about Odex’s local copyright enforcement actions that took place in Singapore in mid 2007. This is not directly related to its latest international efforts. Please refer to here for discussions on the latest development.
Here is my summary of what I think of Odex’s grand scheme to dominate the local market in one daring move, and why I think they will fail terribly and spoil it for the rest of us. As some of you may or may not know, I met with Peter Go, director of Odex, twice before and had some discussions with him long before the start of the on-going fiasco (after he read my letter). At that time, I promised him that I would not reveal anything that was said during our private conversations, so I shall honour that promise. Not that I have a need to, now that Odex has shown its hand and everything has been made public. Anyway, just hoping to clear up some FUDs that have been making their rounds in every single forum thread on the topic.
Anti-Video Piracy Association of Singapore (AVPAS) is not affliated to the government.
Never was, never will be.
Odex is the sole active member of AVPAS.
Although Odex is inconspicuously in the middle of the member list of AVPAS, it is not too much a stretch to say that AVPAS is essentially Odex and not much more. Basically it’s like how music labels use RIAA to redirect the bad publicity away from their brand names, except that Odex is failing horribly at it because they were too lazy to create a letterhead for AVPAS and decided to use their own instead. Big mistake.
Odex is not, and has never been, the dominant proliferator of anime in Singapore.
They may be the one with all the licensing rights, but exponential growth of anime’s popularity seen locally was not their doing. Odex VCDs and DVDs have never received the level of acceptance and respect given to R1 DVDs by the American anime community. With or without BitTorrent.
Odex employees download fansubs.
According to various personal blogs belonging to related individuals. Or just common sense. I mean, the only reason why those people are working for Odex is because they are anime viewers. Where do almost all Singaporean fans get their anime fix from? Hint: it ain’t packaged in silver. Are their employees being issued similar letters?
Not all the AVPAS titles are licensed for local distribution.
Although Odex is the only active member of AVPAS, it does have the consent of the Japanese studios to act on behalf of them. Odex is empowered, through its own creation AVPAS, to defend the copyrights of these studios, whether or not the works in question are licensed for distribution by Odex. This can be said to be very unfair because many of the items are not legally available in Singapore except through expensive parallel importing and the actual damages done by illegal downloading to Odex’s business is therefore zero for these particular titles. Still, it appears that Odex does indeed have the right to represent the interest of those Japanese studios and thus it is within their abilities to sue for certain titles that they do not hold the distribution rights for.
The Japanese studios are not directly involved.
As far as I can tell, the Japanese studios did not initiate this. They probably do not care about what Odex does since Singapore is an insignificant market to them. From what little information is available, it appears that AVPAS was created initially to target commercial bootlegging, for example in 2004 they won a case against a local retail chain to raid their warehouse. This suggests that the Japanese studios authorized Odex to represent their interests so as to fight what they perceive to be commercial piracy. Whether or not this authorization is now being misused by Odex for their own agendas is highly questionable.
Odex did not send any warnings.
When a local blogger first mentioned in passing that Odex was going to take legal actions, they denied it and refused to comment on it. Then one day the letters started flying out of the blue and immediately started to demand money. This really makes one question Odex’s intention.
As a private entity, Odex cannot file a criminal suit.
Although they mentioned “fines of $10,000 per item and imprisonment of 5 years” in their letter, Odex can do nothing of that sort. They can launch a civil suit against you and if they win they can claim damages incurred. But they cannot force the relevant authorities to press criminal charges against you. That is up to the government to decide.
Neither can Odex prevent any criminal charges.
Even if you pay Odex their $3,000 or so, there is nothing to stop the government from pressing criminal charges against you. Copyright infringement is a criminal offence in Singapore. Odex can do nothing to interfere with that. In fact, even if they promise not to sue you themselves, there is nothing that legally prevents them from reporting you to the relevant authorities. In fact, it would be illegal for them to make such a promise.
Odex claims $3,000-$5,000 settlement is for legal and tracking fees.
With 1,000 subpoenaed IP addresses per ISP for SingNet, Starhub and PacNet, we end up with exactly 3,000 IP addresses being affected. Let’s very generously estimate that PacNet manages to appeal successfully and protect the identity of its subscribers and that 1/3 of the addresses are either duplicates (due to dynamic IP assignment) or otherwise unsuitable for Odex’s purpose (e.g. employees, friends and/or relatives). We are still left with about 1,300 or so targets. Let’s assume that everyone only has to pay, on average, $3,000. That is a total of 3.9 million dollars we are talking about, and that is the low end assumption. It can potentially be twice as much if you change a few variables.
According to this The New Paper article, Odex enlisted the help of a US company in tracking BitTorrent downloads. It doesn’t take 3.9 million dollars to run a bunch of servers to auto-scrape at regular intervals every torrent file posted on AnimeSuki and TokyoTosho using their RSS feeds. As for legal fees, Odex mailed their letter using their own letterhead and, from the accounts of people who received the letter, there is no indication that a lawyer was present during their meetings with Odex representatives. Which means that Odex only had to pay for at most legal advices, if anything at all. Certainly not worth 3.9 million dollars.
All that money has to go somewhere. I wonder where…
Odex has already paid all the necessary fees.
At least, that seems to be a logical assumption, since people don’t work for free. In other words, Odex created this elaborate scheme to instil fear, uncertainty and doubt into fansub downloaders, but they don’t want to have to pay for it themselves. So now they are asking you to pay up. They want to have your cake and eat it too. Also, what happens when they have collected enough to make back their original investment? I doubt it was anything more than $100,000, unless people really do pay millions(!?) of dollars for someone to scrape torrent trackers, in which case I shall end my rant here because I have a company to start up. After making back their investment, will Odex cease this futile fear mongering or will they earn some profits while they are at it? Have they already earned back their investment? I think there are a lot of questions in this area that need answering.
Odex does not have a foolproof case in court.
There is little precedence to work with, but there are many holes in their argument. The only evidence they have of your infringement is the IP address, which may not be enough. Various people have also reported that they were turned away when they went to talk to Odex with a lawyer, which is an indication that Odex is uncertain about the validity of its claims. At least one person was advised by his lawyer to ignore the letter and delete all the things he downloaded. So far Odex has not taken any actions against him. If more people refuse to pay up, Odex may be forced to either sue someone to make an example of him or to give up on this whole endeavour. If they do sue, there is no guarantee of victory and it is very hard to guess how much damages the court will award even if they win. It may even be less than $3,000-$5,000.
You are not guilty until proven so in court.
You are not obligated to show anything to Odex just because they send you a letter. You do not have to admit to anything and you should not incriminate yourself. Ask them for all the evidence they have against you. Ask them to explain clearly how each piece of evidence proves their claims. Ask them for a breakdown of the payment and why the amount varies from person to person, especially since they claim that it is supposed to be for the fees they have incurred. Do not sign anything. Seek legal advice if possible.
Odex is attempting to launch a Video-On-Demand service.
Prevent people from downloading and then launch their own service. It seemed like the perfect plan. Unfortunately, it was delayed (perhaps indefinitely), leaving people with nothing but an empty “under construction” page. Also, consider the next point…
The Odex brand is permanently tainted.
Who is going to utilize a VOD service if Odex does manage to get it up eventually? The same teenage anime fans that are defacing pictures of Stephen Sing, the other director of Odex, on HWZ now? Somehow, I don’t think so. Mr. Peter Go also mentioned in the TNP article that Odex sales fell 50% in 2006. Well, who’s taking bets for 2007? In the unlikelihood that sales actually improve, it can only be attributed to market demands generated by certain pyrotechnic displays. Seriously, I have bought Odex VCDs before and now I won’t ever again. How exactly was this supposed to be a response to poor sales again?
My General Paper teacher read about this in the papers and he thinks that Odex is just being greedy.
This is the first time my teacher has heard of Odex. His opinion is that if Odex was really working for the public good, they should have given sufficient prior warnings. It’s very sad when such an unpleasant undertaking becomes your company’s sole source of publicity for most of the population who has, until now, been completely oblivious to your existence. Contrary to the popular old saying, there is such a thing as bad publicity, especially when you are trying to sell something.
Most other forms of downloading are not affected.
HTTP, FTP, IRC, video streaming sites and a whole lot more. BitTorrent just so happens to be easily monitored due to every torrent file having its own tracker and swarm. But no US company is going to be able to log your HTTP downloads without violating some much more serious laws. While P2P file-sharing networks are vulnerable, they are much less so than BitTorrent due to the different nature in file distribution. Ultimately, this crackdown will only serve to increase the popularity of crunchyroll and similar video streaming sites, which is indeed a terrible prospect for those of us who somewhat value video quality, but does nothing for Odex’s stated goal of fighting illegal downloads.
Well, that’s a lot of typing. Maybe I’ll update this when I think of more things.
August 19th, 2007 at 3:51 am
Intelligence from DM? :o
August 19th, 2007 at 4:24 am
Hmm. I never knew you had a private conversation with Go, but then whatever you had up there was kind of shocking to me, at least.But I wonder if others were to be heard of this.
August 19th, 2007 at 4:28 am
In the end, it’s all about money really–to them you’re just a statistic, and whatever justification that you make will not overpower their need for more money.
August 19th, 2007 at 5:22 am
even so, shld anyone ignore & refuse to respond or pay the “fine” and get into a civil law suit with Odex… would probably lose the case… paying the court fees and the damages incurred by odex(which would be more than 5k), makes this pretty much of a extortion… i wonder… those people who had already paid the fine… able to sue odex back for “Misrepresentation” of their rights to sue you, therefore forcing anyone to choose this path of “cheaper” exit a.k.a ‘blackmail’?
I think, even if they can’t sue you as a private entity, they can sort of tip off the IPOS and give them the evidence?
August 19th, 2007 at 5:55 am
Thanks for clearing some things up. Yesterday, after reading some digg, I was wondering how fucked up Singapore law would have to be with the power their (faking) flaunting. But then again, they did legally force internet service providers to fork over private IP addresses, something I’ve never heard happening elsewhere.
August 19th, 2007 at 6:05 am
Sorry but I did some research on the law in S’pore.
Summary, Odex CAN sue ppl as they considered a “owner” of the copyright.
And it is definitely cheaper to pay the fine.
Please read
http://www.singaporelaw.sg/File/iplaw2.html#section6
12.1.9 under Copyright Offences
12.1.16 under Remedies
Sad. We can’t win them in terms in law.
But I’m pretty sure they can’t survive with their current reputation as well.
With the S$4 million. They probably can survive another 5 years with no sales. By the time people would have forgotten abt it. (Man! to be oppressed for 5 years!) or they would have already changed for the better… “I just wish they go away though…’Poof’ will do fine… BOOM would be better”
August 19th, 2007 at 8:19 am
man, dm, odex is so gonna screw you if they see this lol. So is tjhan and drmchsr0.
But cool stuff, this is the only article so far i’ve read that actually comforts me since may (yes, i’ve been worrying since freaking may, wanna see my white hair?).
thanks.
August 19th, 2007 at 9:48 am
Like what you had said, its the money that counts. They are taking the law into their hands and trying to form a monopoly with their evil tactics. But even if they are on the right side of the law, they should start with issuing warning letters and not outright lawsuits. The choice of the latter clearly shows that they are after the money.
August 19th, 2007 at 11:17 am
[QUOTE] Sorry but I did some research on the law in S’pore.
Summary, Odex CAN sue ppl as they considered a “owner” of the copyright.
And it is definitely cheaper to pay the fine. [/QUOTE]
They need to prove they are “owners”. They need to show the licenses they bought from Japanese companies. The list in AVPAS is pretty bullshit. The most they can sue is on behalf of the Japanese companies they are representing for the unlicensed titles and they need to show the money goes back to the Japanese not them. The damages they can claim for themselves are only the titles they have licensed for reproduction in Singapore. We can probably fight for the titles that are not in silver boxes yet.
Unfortunately this is the only argument that I can think of which can be brought into court. Outside court, it’s up to the Odex pple to “sympathize” with the reasons you give when you meet them to pay up.
In anycase, it’s a lose-lose situation. I doubt all my legally bought R2 dvds can save me in the event anything happens.
August 19th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Unfortunately, the Japanese studios ARE involved. Let’s just give an analogy in terms of biology. Odex is the brain sending out the nerve impulses and also the muscles performing the actions while the Japanese studios are the various molecules which facilitate this, such as sodium ions, ATP and etc.
hitoshura: Don’t worry, the world has many viewpoints, and DM shares mine with regards to anime fans :)
August 19th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
We should set up some kind of “Anime Fans Association of Singapore”. Then we go on legal protest strikes and the Police will throw us in jail. This will make the headlines and add some spice to the boring Singapore scene. Unfortunately, like me, not many will have the balls nor the LACK of common sense to do it. :P
All talk and no actions make me an ordinary SGean Tom, Dick and Harry.
August 19th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Beowulf:
They did not force ISPs to reveal IP addresses, they forced them to reveal the information related to IP addresses that they have already collected. It’s the same thing that RIAA does.
Anyway the Japanese studios are involved only as much as they choose to do nothing about anything. Odex wanted to do this and the Japanese saw no reason to object. It is more like how US-supported foreign dictatorships can abuse human rights all they want in their own countries as long they give what the Americans want (i.e. oil).
August 19th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
If you want to enligt your self about fansub go to here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_Sub
August 19th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
I’ve been chasing TNP acticles on ODEX too. Although I do agree intruding privacy of Stephan Sing is a bit too much. But it just shows how much hatred is going around…
With their reputation now… I think no matter what they do.. improve on quality ah… do those “Buy 1 get 10 free” offers ah…. nobody going to buy from them anymore (At least I won’t)… and they know it…so they just choose to continue what they are doing now: sending more letters and heck care about their products. “Selling” a few sheets of paper for 3k is better profit than anime for them I guess.. since they don’t wanna do business the proper way. Maybe after collecting money from everyone they caught, they’ll just close down company and share profits. lol 3.9m leh.. share among those staffs i think can last for quite long sia.
August 19th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
If any one want to enlight them self about fan sub goto here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_Sub
I personally love fan sub, because I can’t affore the real thing. I would like very much watching an anime on TV.
When downloading fansub, make sure that it untrackable, you download from an off shor (out of the country) server.
Why don’t the Fansubbers form it own company and make this “Odex” company fall.
Remmember “if you are truly a fan, delet the fansub once you buy the real thing” also you won’t sell it.
August 19th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
I hate to say this, but Singapore is not exactly a big country (duh). The anime market here is still a pretty niche one. The problem is “Odex” was a company that was formed by anime fans and (fansubbers) and you can see where that lead to now :rolleyes:
We’re not America you know. We don’t even have an equivalent “Fair Use” Rights here. So we’re pretty much screwed when something big happens here since we’re pretty much helpless. And it’s hard for us to be litigious like the Americans. Suing millions of dollars for just a pair of pants is what Americans are capable of, not us.
August 19th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
At the very least, RIAA is made up of major record companies; AVPAS is made up of, ahem, Odex. The Japanese companies there are all represented by Odex rather than representing themselves, which is just as well as saying they’ve given Odex full autonomy.
Dare anyone still argue that AVPAS is unbiased and non-profit?
August 19th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
tjhan : Unfortunately, the Japanese studios ARE involved. Let’s just give an analogy in terms of biology.
What I like to know is, why start here? American has a bigger pool of BT anime downloaders, has a bigger market, and besides, most English fansubs originate from there. Why don’t you see this kind of crackdown even mentioned there? Instead, we have Bandai thanking fans who watched fansubbed Haruhi and then support the original?
Unless someone has been giving them a very wrong picture of the anime community here? I’m speculating, but how does the Japanese companies come to see Singapore as the second most active anime pirate hub here?
Moreover, if the Japanese companies ARE indeed the ones who ordered this, where’s the official statement? Its one thing for Odex/AVPAS to claim one thing, another to actually show it. Or are the Japanese companies aware this is bad PR for them as well?
August 19th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
odex fail so hard they are a winning failure.
August 19th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
This post is short and sweet so it gets straight to the point.
I think so far,this is one of the most informative posts on ODEX out in the net.I’m sure many have learnt a new thing or two from reading this.
Anyway,I look forward to your next update on this issue.