Oh Cloudflare. Just when you think the online service provider and web host can take a breather, it gets another problem slapped right into its face. This time, it’s an order by the Japanese courts to pay restitution to several Japanese publishers for hosting manga piracy sites.
The Tokyo District Court ordered Cloudflare to pay ¥500 million (~RM13.3 million) to four major Japanese publishing firms: Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan, and Kadokawa. All four accuse the host of copyright infringement in its role of hosting sites that distribute pirated copies or scans of popular manga titles. The lawsuit, filed in 2022, seeks damages totalling ¥560 million (~RM14.8 million).
The publishers say that Cloudflare provided a server for “two massive manga piracy sites that distribute over 4,000 manga titles without permission and rack up 300 million views a month.” As such, they fingered the host as the main entity responsible for pirated manga distribution. However, the presiding judge for the case said that Cloudflare was not the main entity, but still beared responsibility for its role in the grand scheme of things.
Pirated manga sites have long been an issue for Japanese publishing houses, for nearly as long as the internet has been around. In the beginning, it was a source for anime and fans of particular manga series – One Piece being one of the hot ticket titles and longest running story – outside of Japan to get their monthly fix, scanned and roughly translated by the piracy sites themselves.
Manga has long been a popular medium, both in and outside of Japan, with the former having to wait for months for officially translated graphic novels to hit their shores. Japanese publishers claim that they have lost million of dollars in revenue from piracy site, since all it takes is for one person to purchase the magazine or book, scan it, and then publish it online for millions of viewers to read. Again, for non-Japanese speakers, translated chapters are a bonus.
Cloudflare has said that the ruling was regrettable and that it would appeal it.
(Source: Japan Times)
