Odex goes International!
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)
株式会社 ＵＳＥＮ
いつも「GyaO 光」をご利用いただき、誠にありがとうございます。
この度外部より、「221.251.XXX.XXX」のIPアドレスにて各企業・個人が著作権 を有するデータを公開しているとのご連絡を受けております。弊社にて確認させて頂きましたところ、「ＰＩＮＡＮＳＫＹＳＡＭＵＥＬ」様のご利用の環境から送信された事が判明致しました。
著作者に無断で複製・記載・加工・使用等をする行為は、著作権の侵害にあたります。弊社約款上、「 当社もしくは他人の知的財産所有権（特許権、実用新案、著作権、意匠権、商標権等）その他の権利を侵害する行為または侵害する恐れのある行為（著作権侵害防止のための技術的保護手段を回避するための情報、機器またはソフトウェア等を流通させる行為を含みます。）」は禁止とさせて頂いており（第29条－(5)－ア）、規約違反行為に関しましては利用停止とさせて頂く場合もございます。
今後とも該当する行為が継続された場合、他のお客様や外部のネットワークに対して迷惑がかかりますため、早急な対応を必要としております。
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: 221×251xXXXxXXX.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?
November 19th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
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!!!
November 19th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
l-lawliet: Yes, definitely.
Rasqual: I am pretty sure that wiki entry is outdated.
November 19th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
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”!!
November 19th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
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 . . .’
November 19th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
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?
November 19th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
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.
November 19th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
@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.
November 19th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
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???
November 19th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
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.
November 19th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
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
November 19th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
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!!!!!
November 19th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
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.
November 19th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
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?
November 19th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
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.
November 19th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
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???
November 19th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
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?
November 19th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
bakabakashi:
Or Odex/AVPAS is too lazy to keep that list updated.
November 19th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Aren’t they attacking WRONG targets?
Trackback from
Odex out for world domination! « Sekai wa、 Utsukushii deshou?November 19th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
[...] Read DarkMirage’s entry. [...]
November 19th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
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?