Funimation Sues 1337 Anime Pirates
- Categories: Anime, News
- Date: Jan 26, 2011 19:01 JST
- Tags: Copyright, Fansubbing, Funimation, Internet, Litigation, Marketing, Translation, USA
Funimation is suing 1337 anime pirates for pirating a pirate anime.
The lawsuit, alleging copyright infringement and filed in a Texas court, accuses 1,337 IP addresses of the illegal bit-torrent distribution of episode 481 of One Piece.
The suit demands they delete the episode and desist from further unauthorised distribution, as well as possibly seeking damages and costs.
The actual identities of the alleged pirates the IP addresses belong to (“John Does”) would normally be included into the suit at a later date pending further investigation.
As the anime most widely available through legal channels the world over (being both simulcast and released onto DVD in unedited form), even the most self-righteous of anime pirates are likely to have trouble justifying illegal distribution of One Piece – not that this is likely to stop them trying.
However, some are speculating that the real reason behind the suit may be a reaction to the recent scape-goating of Funimation for the piracy of various simulcast series, and the unusual display of litigative wit in the selection of “1337” defendants certainly suggests an ulterior motive beyond the usual butting of heads between Internet and copyright holders.
Monmusu BD “Bigger With Every Release!”
MLP Futanari: “Bronies Weirder Than Ever…”
Blade & Soul Launch Unexpectedly Voluptuous
Nisemonogatari Pachinko Machine Unveiled
Lax Lady Venera Figure
Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut Ceaselessly Naughty
“Abusive” Breast-Groping Fundraiser Molested by Petition
Hanayo Koizumi’s Birthday Highly Revered
Toyota Prius CM Goes Full KanColle Mode
Usamimi Anette-san Micro-Bikini Figure
A Full Course Dream 3some “An Otaku Wet-Dream”
Dimension W “Both Cute & Grotesque!”
Monster Monpiece Naked Trailer Shamelessly Shameless
Digimon Adventure Tri PV Full of Promise
Tekken Moves Performed in Real Life
Energetic Lucky Chloe Figure
Otoko No Ko Harem – Will You Admit To Wanting This?
Dagashi Kashi Irresistibly Sweet
Oshiete Gyaruko-chan Pantsu-A-Plenty
Nitroplus Blasterz English Trailer Quite Rousing
Momo Velia Deviluke Cosplay Bursting With Bridal Beauty
Skimpy Sonico Cosplay Barely Contained
Kumiko & Reina Cosplay Hardly Blows At All
Skimpy Elf Bikini Cosplay by Saku Supremely Sexy
Gothic Lolita Hatsune Miku Cosplay Busts Out
Delectable Dizzy Cosplay by Lechat
Dark Elf Cosplay by Non Very Dark Indeed
Titillating Tamako Cosplay Perfectly Pink
Goddess of 2ch: “Full of Lust & Urges (& Also Videos)!”
Raunchy Reisen Inaba Cosplay by Tsuyato
You can tell that the people at Funimation have a sense of humour at least, with the amount of people they decided to sue.
Not like this lawsuit will get them anywhere, though
It won't, but to be honest, if that was an intentional number, then I actually totally support the hell out of them. I honestly don't care if that makes me exceptionally shallow, that's like an adult swim bump style humor ^^
Either way, the reality is Funimation is between a rock and a hard place in this case. I'm sure they think similar to us on this, as in the only people the Japanese were hurting were Funimation themselves, by completely removing ANY profitability for the episode, rather than getting at least some. Unfortunately, as generally cool as Funimation is regarding not going overboard about the foolishness of the fandom, when it comes down to the political perceptions the Japanese have of American companies and anime distributors, they were basically handed a carrot on the edge of a fishing rod and were baited into this move.
In this case it's not Funimation that deserves any retribution or blame, but the foolish Japanese who demanded this ridiculousness of them in some strange ploy to see what power they have over them. I'm all for controlling piracy and forcing spoiled whiny brats to actually support the good stuff (especially now that the official companies have smartened up a lot), but there are ways to handle it. Simulcast is one of the key ways. I believe in people too much for that simulcast pulling decision to process effectively in my mind as something intelligent.
Oh well. I'll root for Funimation regardless. Unlike other companies that couldn't adapt and have fallen by the wayside, Funimation has constantly gotten better for it. Even for Funi, the lawsuit seems like a drop in a pond. They have DVDs and streams available every-freakin-where including Youtube. So they probably will win on the availability front. Not sure about keeping them down when they're a group of anons though.
As for other anime distributions, I'm in much more favor of fansubs and other releases as long as they don't have any concrete plans for a western release. And I must admit, I must get my new anime NOW! I'm guilty.
Funimation is suing 1337 anime pirates for pirating a pirate anime.
I just love the pun in there!
Should of posted this at 13:37.
I cannot understand why people would illegally spread this around when it is legally availible for free. This is entirely stupid, as this leaves the grey area of what manga and anime fansubbing lives in.
Really all depends on how much funimation pushs this lawsuit really, I'm thinking they may start pushing harder.
Some People dont like funimation subs, plain and simple
"Funimation is suing 1337 anime pirates for pirating a pirate anime."
Say that line fast. Quickly!
Why does it honestly feel like Funimation is just trolling us
Forget the Elite 4, now we have the Elite 1337.
@Lonespica Think again, pal. All Funimation subs sucks ass!
@TNinja,tried,it's fun!
why 133y 15 0ur fr13n|)
1 4M 50 54|)
It's not legally free all around the world, as Funimation only allows the stream to be accessed by US and maybe a couple of countries. The internet being global and all that mean millions of people do not have access legally. Until content producers get it through their heads that the world is bigger then japan and the US they won't make as much money.
Funimation is bullshit, just like 4Kids Entertainment!
"My question is this, how can Funimation sue the people for copyright infringement if they don't own the copyright for the property."
A: An Exclusive License
@Anon 23:24
Well those same people are willing to watch those same bad subs on a fansub website?
WTF!? People are crazy...
One of the management looking dudes with funimation has a tatoo of binary code on his arm.
1337? O U so funi.
lol.. i see what you did thar~!
Only 1337? Wow, that's too damn FEW.
I don't think it's even 5% of all the pirate otakus who use BT worldwide. Especially that we're talking about One Piece here.
Likely not even .5% and IPs of individual computers are very weak evidence that is nearly worthless in court because of the nature of how the internet works.
It really depends how technically inept the judge and jury are.
If you have the slightest clue you'd know they can be spoofed and logs can be altered.
Deletes 481...
Waits for 482...
Problem?
who the hell is still download one peice?
Surprisingly, many still do, but what a waste of space =_=
never dld a single piece
and yet another reason to avoid it, especially 481 (soap operas anyone?) on top of wasted space
all the pieces fit together
@Yoshii-kun:
Surprisingly, ONE PIECE KICKS IN THE ASS TO ALL THE MOETARD ANIME YOU'VE EVER SEEN :D
Anon 03:09
Surprisingly, ONE PIECE SUCKS ASS, like you! :D
Surprisingly, ONE PIECE KICKS IN THE ASS TO ALL THE MOETARD ANIME YOU'VE EVER SEEN :D
-KICKS
+TAKES
VVayfarer's Yuri Alter Ego
............ /´¯/)............ (\¯`\
............/....//........... ...\\....\
.........../....//............ ....\\....\
...../´¯/..../´¯\........... /¯ `\....\¯`\
.././.../..../..../.|_......_| .\....\....\...\.\.
(.(....(....(..../.)..).. (..(. \....)....)....).)
.\................\/.../....\. ..\/................/
..\................. /........\................../
....\..............(........
....................../¯/
....................../../
.............../¯/¯/../¯¯\
..............|..'...'..'..|¯\¯|
..............|............¯../
...............\..........._/.........…
................|.........|...........…
................|.........|...........…
................|.........|...../|....…
Fairy Tail is shit and so are you
@VVayfarer's Yuri Alter Ego:
You're stupid enough to not find out that you are an asshole and you can suck my dick with the bitch of Yoshii-kun, like I said, fuck you good shonen anime haters, moe animes are finished...
@06:20 Yeah and fuck you anon! Anons are anals! Go suck my other self's dick, bitch!
Fairy Tail is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than One Piss!
wow! Funimation actually followed Fractale's orders? all in the name of profit I presume
on a side note though there are many more pirate sites outside the U.S. so I wonder if they're going to sue them as well?
I'd imagine they may not have such "jurisdiction" in areas where they don't have business with....
I doubt the two are directly connected. Fractale is handled by a completely different studio.
The wiki says Ordet and A-1 Pictures pinched off that loaf.
Funimation is just a distributor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractale
Really it would have been no big loss to loose distribution rights as both companies are tiny and don't carry many big titles.
In fact Ordet and A-1 Pictures should be extremely grateful a company like Funimation picked up one of their productions as otherwise they'd have no US sales.
Fractale is shit I would have ignored it.
As far as I'm concerned A-1 Pictures can go bankrupt.
If they sue individual pirates it will actually cost them more money then they'd gain.
What happens if you sue someone who can't afford to pay they declare bankruptcy.
At best the lawyer might seize their house but in this real estate market it will sell for next to nothing.
"As the anime most widely available through legal channels the world over (being both simulcast and released onto DVD in unedited form)"
Sorry, did Funimation write that? I'm not sure "America" = "the world over".
I see no legal simulcast of One Piece in the UK.
And as the great Lance from Funimation said himself; we shouldn't be buying DVD's from outside the region they were intended for. So that means no DVD's for us either.
Its not even America, but just a tiny puny country called United States. I doubt you could watch simulcast of One Piece in Chile or Colombia.
Again, this is not FUNimation's fault. It's a U.S. company for U.S. citizens. The reason you guys in other countries don't get Anime simulcast or distributed is because of your own country's import laws. The only countries that should be complaining is either Canada or Mexico. DVDs for U.S. fall under Region 1. DVDs for U.K. falls under Region 2. This world has 4 Regions for DVD distribution as well as video online distribution.
FUNimation is a U.S. company under Region 1, countries also...Canada, Mexico and there might be more.
All I'm saying is you're blaming the wrong company. Blame the companies in your own country for not allowing the streams or distribution to happen. Maybe FUNimation is sending stuff worldwide, and maybe its' due to the fact that some countries are too lazy to respond...
Who knows?
I don't mean to be mean but I'm just saying.
I wasn't complaining about Funimation not providing me with One Piece, heck I don't even watch One Piece.
I was just pointing out that it's not "widely available through legal channels the world over" as the article says.
I'm not holding it against Funi. I'm just continuing to watch fansubs until a worthy alternative is available where I live.
actually im pretty sure there are 6 regions
and that six is just china they have a whole region to themselves
though i may be mistaken
Yeah, you're right.
I just hate how people blame companies in "DIFFERENT COUNTRIES" than their own, but that they should be blaming their own goverments.
Because I hear the same stuff over and over, that I say this.
"And as the great Lance from Funimation said himself; we shouldn't be buying DVD's from outside the region they were intended for. So that means no DVD's for us either."
Gotta link to that quote?
http://blog.funimation.com/2011/01/anime-simulcasts-territory-rights-and-the-future/
tl;dr : respect region restrictions
This is of course the greatest failing of the anime industry today - it is not reasonable to expect regional distribution rights to function over the Internet in the absence of firm barriers (such as language).
It's pretty obvious what happens - everyone hears about a thing on an international site, and everyone who gets turned away from the region locked distributor just gets it illegally themselves. It is not reasonable to expect them to wait for the possibility their region will finally gain a distributor and be left behind...
They can't seriously think they can beat Leet? It's gonna be a MONSTER KILL!
Kiiilllll frenzy.
Funanimation thinks is the world!
PFF!!
Funimation could die for all I care
They have ruined anime and they're doing this just to ruin anime even further
You probably never bought a damn thing in your life grade schooler. Stop acting like you're important.
Yea. I fail to see how Funimation has ruined anime. They have been the one company I see stateside that has been working hard on changing the old status quo that was hurting anime.
The big one Being high DVD prices. If you say they are too high, well kid. 10+ years ago, you had to pay $30 for 3-4 episode dvd's. With Funimation today, that gets you a 12-13 episode thinpack.
Then there is the fact that you can watch nearly every funimation on a free stream.
Also Japanese DVD/BD's are way more expensive than that and there are only 2-3 episodes er volume.
Funimation crams too many episodes on a single disc, leaving the content with very little bitrate.
If you love blocky & bluffed picture, Funimation is your personal butt buddy. If you don't, then they're clearly the antichrist.
Plus their older English dubbed anime is absolutely horrid. It grates the ears like the sounds of a thousand Japanese girls squealing in unison.
Me, I'd rather pay 25 bucks for 3-4 episodes and not have shitty picture or low quality voice acting. So fuck Funi, fuck them right up their fucking asses.
pay $30 for 3-4 episode dvd's. = almost same price now in russia =x (or it get cheaper o.o)
a) FUNi's video is getting better, it's not as ugly as it's been, b) they plaster uncut everywhere on their ads and the dvds for a reason (inb4 you don't have to listen to the english audio if you don't want to), c) the reason why the dubs are so bad are because they don't have the time to allow the actors to get into character and all the things necessary for an actor to do his/her job correctly.
you know that funimation is not 4kids, right?
You could die for all I care.
lol, wtf did funimation do to "ruin anime?" Can't believe such a butthurt, nonsensical comment gets upvoted around here.