SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A protest action by a group of Singaporeans with Japanese anime figurines such as the 5-inch tall Ultramen, robots and monsters with placards met some real-life police in the city-state.

A handful of fans of Japanese anime had turned up at a Singapore public park on August 25 with armfuls of the toys to protest against a clampdown on Internet downloading of anime material by Singapore animation distributor Odex.

The incident was not reported in the local press, but pictures and accounts have started circulating on many blogs and political Web sites. (http://textfiend.net/zerohero/?p=454).
Photo

"The police didn't stop us from what we wanted to do. But their being there was enough to intimidate," the event's organiser -- who only wanted to be known by his online moniker Zer0 -- told Reuters by telephone.

He added that police -- who had four anti-riot vans at the scene -- also took down the anime fans' particulars and that they were filmed by plainclothes policemen. A police spokeswoman said she could not immediately comment.

Public protests are rare in Singapore, where outdoor demonstrations are banned and any public gathering of more than four people requires a permit.

I think I should put up something here to tell a bit of our side of the story, all these had been communicated one way or another to the press.

First, the double-six issue.

Now, that is entirely my fault, and it has nothing to do with Odex as a whole. In hindsight I admit that it was a flippant remark, and could have been more sensitive about it. But it was never intentional, nor meant to offend anybody, the last thing I'd think of doing is to alienate myself with our potential customers. But enough had been said about this.

The 9-year old kid.

I've received his parent's consent to release the terms. (Please note that we cannot do so without his agreement, that is a privacy issue). His appeal to the copyright holders was based upon age and low income family with all documents furnished and accepted. The final amount was S$600 to be paid over 12 months, and the parents paid up one shot. The case was resolved in July.

The charity issue.

The original message to the press was : We will invite or engage a reputable auditor to audit our accounts pertaining to the collection and costs of this excercise. If (note the word IF) there is any profit, we will donate all of them to a charitable cause.

Now if you ask me, I'm absolutely confident that there will be NO PROFIT. But the only way to show the public this is to have an audit so as to prove our motive and transparency. If we are to be found that there is a profit, then we should not take that money, it's that simple actually.

Traditionally piracy issues tackle distribution entites - shut down the local pirate shop and you resolved much of the problem. BitTorrent changes that completely. Downloaders and filesharers no longer need to go anywhere physically to pick up something. Yes, you can say it is all "non-profit", but while you're downloading you're uploading too - what gives you the rights to give somebody else something that you did not own? What gives you the rights to get something that you didn't pay for - anime is a business production, the anime studio has a rights to demand payment for it - and that should be respected. By taking them just off the net willfully, you've basically throw the respect of copyright aside, and justifying it to say that it is for the "greater good". The greater good of who? Certainly not the anime studios or the animators in Japan.

The so called merchandising benefit only applies to a very minor sector of anime - no doubt that they are usually the most advertised, or the most well-known. But the majority of anime in Japan doesn't have a merchandising potential that is bigger than TV/DVD sales, and those titles, and therefore their studios, suffer because of illegal filesharing. We've talked to all of them, they told us. Have you talked to them?

To wrap and summarise what I have been saying in this thread, Odex will from now on focus enforcement efforts on those who have continued to download illegally even after the publicity in the press on this issue.

If we find evidence that anyone has continued downloading, we will take action and rely on any evidence that we have on past instances of downloading. For those who have already been identified as downloaders but who have not received our letters, we will hold back our letters unless we find further evidence that they have continued downloading.

For those who have already received our letters, they have already been identified as heavy or persistent downloaders. We will continue to negotiate with those who have not settled the matter yet, or take action if we are instructed to do so by the copyright owners.

I think this should pretty much clears up any issues. Locking this thread so that everyone can find this info.

ANIME distributer Odex has lost a court bid to force Pacific Internet to reveal names of subscribers who allegedly downloaded pirated versions of the Japanese cartoons.

The Subordinate Court handed down its decision in chambers on Thursday and no details were made public.

Pacific Internet (PacNet), which opposed the Odex action, would only say that it 'respects the rights of intellectual property owners and at the same time, also believes in protecting the privacy of all our subscribers'.

The Straits Times understands one reason for District Judge Ernest Lau's decision is that he believes Odex was not the right party to make the application, despite having the go-ahead to prosecute on the behalf of the Japanese anime studios.

Odex is demanding the names of up to 1000 PacNet downloaders.

A company spokesman said it will consult the rights owners before making its next move but it was likely to appeal. It has 14 days to do so.

The ruling on Thursday came as a surprise given that Odex had successfully obtained Court orders to get SingNet and StarHub to reveal names of their downloaders.

Different judges ruled on those cases, and both internet service providers declined to say what arguments they presented in court.

In light of the PacNet decision, a StarHub spokesman said on Thursday that it's 'assessing our options ...given the different decisions rendered by the court'.

But the deadline for lodging an appeal has expired for StarHub and SingTel.

email -email-.
let's meet at National Library, bugis. Sunday 19 August, 2pm. OK?
Large space, with correct environment.
let's email and post our activities in the open.
We need to encourage everyone to come and join in, and that we are actually coming together.
nevermind the "spy". we don't have time to guess.


I posted this in hardwarezone to get more people.

we are meeting up, FOR REAL, to discuss what to do and seek legal advice.
http://groups.msn.com/OdexSingapore/messages.msnw

let GROUP UP. We need everybody help.
We need money. Even $1 is good.
We need those who has the actual letters. What did odex threaten you with.

we can go to legal aid bureau for legal advice.
http://app.minlaw.gov.sg/lab/default.asp

if cannot, we go to NUS Law Faculty and approach law students and lecturers for help on what to do. We have the richest and smartest people there, should got idea how to proceed.

legal reference, ipos copyright faq. read point 12. let try mediation. Mediation Advisory Clinic consultation fee: $10. See what they advise. Far better than lawsuit or $3000.
http://www.ipos.gov.sg/main/aboutip/copyright/faq.html