On Tuesday, the Japan Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) announced that the Public Security Bureau of China’s Jiangsu Province had arrested four people associated with “B9GOOD,” one of the largest anime piracy sites aimed at Japanese people, as part of their efforts to reduce piracy and promote the international distribution of Japanese content.
Read More: Japanese Tourist Goes Viral For Climbing Mt Kinabalu in a Suit
The Chinese authorities detained an unemployed 33-year-old man on February 14 and subsequently interrogated a 30-year-old female company employee, an unemployed 38-year-old man, and a self-employed 34-year-old woman between February 18 and March 21.
The site was shut down on Monday, and the 33-year-old man who admitted to operating the site was released on bail on March 19. He had purchased a 4 million yuan (about US$582,000) house with money earned from the site, which is believed to have generated 6-7 million yuan (about US$873,000-US$1 million). The other suspects were paid to upload files to the site or earned money through advertising fees and uploading content on other sites.
What is Anime Streaming Site B9GOOD?
B9GOOD, previously known as “B9DM,” received more than 300 million site visits between January 2021 and December 2022. Since October 2016, CODA has issued over 10,000 removal requests for the site. Six companies, including Avex, Inc., TV Tokyo, Toei Animation, TOHO, NHK, and Bandai Namco Filmworks, had filed a complaint with CODA regarding the piracy site.
In response, CODA filed a complaint with Chinese authorities, and this is the first time Chinese authorities have arrested a piracy site operator in response to a complaint from Japan. Other companies that submitted requests to CODA for criminal detection confirmed damages caused by the piracy site, including Kadokawa, Kodansha, Shogakukan, Studio Ghibli, Tezuka Productions, TV Asahi, TMS, Pony Canyon, Yoshimoto Kogyo Holdings, Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation, and WOWOW.
CODA launched the Cross-Border Enforcement Project (CBEP) in 2021 with the support of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) to identify piracy website operators through digital forensics and open-source intelligence research. In January 2022, the CODA Beijing office was recognized as an NGO, and its activities include protecting the legitimate rights of member companies. CODA and Tokyo Otaku Mode established the Manga-Anime Guardians Project (MAGP) in 2014 to protect manga and anime content overseas, and as part of the MAGP, CODA began posting manga designed to counter piracy on its official website in June 2020.
Source: Natalie
The post Chinese Authorities Arrested 4 People For Anime Piracy appeared first on Anime Time.from Anime Time https://ift.tt/wfFANsl
via IFTTT
0 Comments