Odex has copyright owners' support

SINGAPORE--Odex wants to prove that it has the authority to prosecute those who illegally downloaded anime.

Accompanied by a panel of representatives from the respective copyright-holding anime companies from Japan, the Singapore-based anime distributor held a press conference Thursday to announce its plans to continue its battle against illegal downloaders.

Odex is appealing against a recent court ruling that prevented it access to the names of Pacific Internet's subscribers who illegally downloaded anime. The court dismissal was on the basis of Odex not being the copyright-holder of the content.

However, Odex said today that it has been appointed by the Japanese anime companies to act on their behalf, and that it had first received authorization letters before going ahead with its initial proceedings.

Satoshi Banno, vice president of Gonzo Digimation Holdings, acknowledged that Odex was given the authority: "DVD and TV revenues have been affected, and we need to protect our copyright."

And should the court require direct intervention from the copyright-holders, Ryuji Kochi, international department manager at Toei Animation Enterprises, said they would come to Singapore.

Odex presented stacks of records listing IP addresses belonging to illegal downloaders of anime content

="" href="http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/business/0,39044229,62031019,00.htm" title="S'porean incurs wrath after prosecuting -- Friday, Aug. 17, 2007">Stephen Sing said the company is not going after all illegal downloaders but only those who have downloaded regularly and in high volumes. While he would not reveal the company's benchmark for what that constitutes, he said that this further narrows down the figures from its initial list of IP addresses.

According to Odex Managing Director Peter Go, since a single user may have multiple IP addresses in one session, the 1,000 IP addresses belonging to SingNet has translated to some 400 names.

Of the 300 SingNet subscribers, who were issued letters, 105 have come forth to negotiate with Odex. Go confirmed that the company has received payment from some.

The first two ISPs, SingNet and StarHub, have been ordered by the court to hand over the guilty subscribers' details, of which Odex has received from SingNet. Sing said that it was still waiting for StarHub's submission.

Sing gave assurance that Odex would release the figures paid to the company after the proceedings are over: "The figures will be audited and there will be transparency," he said.