crime

Police arrest 5 men over illegal upload of 'One Piece' manga and translation

24 Comments
By Casey Baseel, RocketNews24

Manga mega-hit "One Piece" follows the adventures of protagonist Luffy and his crew of comrades as they sail the seas searching for treasure and staying one step ahead of the authorities.

A group of five men should have taken notes on that last part, since they were recently arrested by the anti-cybercrime division of the Kyoto prefectural police.

"One Piece" runs in publisher Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump, and every week new editions of the manga anthology have to be printed and shipped to distributors. As such, the magazines pass through a few people’s hands before they hit newsstands, and one such individual is 69-year-old Takehisa Hidaka, who lives in the city of Yashioshi in Saitama Prefecture and works for a shipping company.

In late October, Hidaka’s company received a shipment of copies of this year’s Volume 49 of Weekly Shonen Jump, which had an on-sale date of Nov 2. The company was then supposed to distribute these to other delivery companies, but police claim that Hidaka pilfered one copy and passed it off to a group of four unnamed Chinese men living in Japan.

Included in the issue was the 805th chapter of "One Piece," and on Oct 29, still four days ahead of when the issue was supposed to become available to the public, the chapter, with its text translated into English, was uploaded to mangapanda, a site that hosts unauthorized uploads of Japanese comics. On Nov 13, the police made their move and arrested Hidaka, along with the Chinese nationals, on charges of violating copyright law.

Hidaka has denied any part in copyright infringement, asserting “All I did was give them the magazine.” The police have not issued a statement regarding whether or not they believe any sort of monetary gain was a motivating factor in the alleged crimes.

Sources: Otapol, Yahoo! News Japan

Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- One Piece manga creator’s work schedule is absolutely insane -- One Piece manga sends off Naruto with a classy secret message -- It’s Luffy Galore! Feast your eyes on these One Piece drawings by ten different manga artists!

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24 Comments
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it is the responsibility of police to investigate whether you like it or not.

I could accept that if that was, in fact, how the police enforce laws. But they selectively choose to ignore or enforce laws all the time. One might ask what prompted them to devote their resources to enforcing this particular heavy-handed law? I would guess political pressures from big business to politicians to the police.

In this particular case, I do agree that the publishers of One Piece have a valid complaint. But I think handling it through the criminal justice system as a criminal case is an abuse of power.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

since they were recently arrested by the anti-cybercrime division of the Kyoto prefectural police.

Have the police nothing more important to do with their time?

Seems to me they were doing exactly what their jobs required them to do.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Saying bad things about a company also impacts profits, so the difference you cite doesn't exist.

It may, there is no guarantee it will.

But regardless of that, uploading copyrighted material is not a civil offense in Japan, and therefore it is the responsibility of police to investigate whether you like it or not.

I wonder why you support abusive IP laws that are clearly harmful to society and progress.

We got a little off track there. My main point was not in support of IP laws (which are a different conversation), it was in support of the police doing the job they are mandated to do. If there is a problem with the laws, that's not the fault of the police, it's the fault of the legislators.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

And why shouldn't it be? The following sentence answered that question already.

Not really. One may have an impact on the company. The other directly cuts into the company's profits, and that is the company's right to make that profit.

Saying bad things about a company also impacts profits, so the difference you cite doesn't exist. You also call copying "theft." Again, throughout history theft has meant taking something from somebody, so that they lose it and you now have it. Business has convinced lawmakers (and you too) that it is possible for something to be stolen without depriving the original owner of it, simply by copying it. You say that deprives the company of profits, but so does talking bad about a company. Of course, it is impossible to show that a person who downloads something would have actually paid for it if he had no other way to access it. It's an assumption, that's all.

I wonder why you support abusive IP laws that are clearly harmful to society and progress. I create music and write. The idea of throwing someone in jail for copying my song or my book is beyond ludicrous. It's a civil issue on the surface. Deeper down, it's an issue of companies being unwilling to accept change and influencing the law in a draconian attempt to stop time.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

These manga companies are making a lot of yen more than enough that they make a huge profit.

That's their right. They are the ones creating it. This isn't a justification for theft.

Copyright laws have been handled as civil disputes from the start. It was only recently that business interests have convinced the lawmakers to make it a criminal offence.

And why shouldn't it be?

It is still a civil dispute if you malign a company's product or service unfairly. Should that be made a criminal offence as well? It's essentially the same thing.

Not really. One may have an impact on the company. The other directly cuts into the company's profits, and that is the company's right to make that profit.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

So who decides which laws are important and which ones aren't?

Copyright laws have been handled as civil disputes from the start. It was only recently that business interests have convinced the lawmakers to make it a criminal offence. The change is tying up the police resources and courts, and imprisoning people who probably don't need to be in prison to at best, and squashing innovation, free speech and creativity at worst.

It is still a civil dispute if you malign a company's product or service unfairly. Should that be made a criminal offence as well? It's essentially the same thing.

There is a reason for civil courts that are separate from criminal courts.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

These manga companies are making a lot of yen more than enough that they make a huge profit. Enough is enough. If the manga was not so costly and reasonably affordable for just about anyone's income to enjoy then there would be no need for copyright.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Perhaps the silly Japanese police have tried to block this site?

http://www.mangapanda.com/

But a simple VPN should bypass that.

Never been to the site, so I'm not sure what's on it, though.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I would rather have had these police investigation unsolved murders and kidnappings, even if they arrived at no results whatsoever.

Why can't they do both?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Enforce the obviously import laws.

I guarantee that to the publisher of Once Piece, this law is very important.

So who decides which laws are important and which ones aren't?

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

So you think the police should just not bother to enforce some laws? Then what exactly is the point of making laws?

Enforce the obviously import laws. Plenty of laws are being ignored by police all over the world, from law on marijuana to laws on sexual practices. Indeed, they do pick and choose, and always have.

The old men in our legislatures are often out of touch with reality and make laws that range from utterly stupid and horrible to great "in theory". Thankfully we have courts and even police as middle men, although even their influence does not bring us to a state of real perfection and justice.

I would rather have had these police investigation unsolved murders and kidnappings, even if they arrived at no results whatsoever.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

So you think the police should just not bother to enforce some laws?

Then what exactly is the point of making laws?

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Better than enforcing the law? Would you prefer they played golf instead? weel since checking copywrite is to prop up private enterprise at the taxpayers expense, Id much prefer they actually do real policing like, catching speeding drivers, redlight bandits, making sure people are wearing seatbelts and there children arnt standing in thee seats, you know actually policing that saves lives!

6 ( +6 / -0 )

**anotherexpat Have the police nothing more important to do with their time?

Yup, checking bicycles.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Have the police nothing more important to do with their time?

Better than enforcing the law? Would you prefer they played golf instead?

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Have the police nothing more important to do with their time?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

There are lots of Fluent English/Japanese speakers here, so why use Chines English? I bet there are a ton of mistakes. Would love to see it.

Plus four people to hit the button that says upload now? Were they holding each others hands or something like that?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Now I know where to get pirated manga - thanks JT!!!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Why use Chinese nationals to translate to English?

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

@Jason Agreed. I'm not a manga reader, but it seemed kind of silly for the name of the website to be published. It's like saying, "Don't download movies from pirate bay dot c om." (actually writing the last part can get your post filtered)

1 ( +2 / -1 )

More crazy copyright rigamarole all in an attempt to prop up a medium that is doomed anyway.

I am curious how it takes four men to do one upload though. That one has me a bit stumped.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Ow! -haha.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Now I know where to get all of my manga from! LOL

9 ( +9 / -0 )

somebody still reading this thing? The author said he is going to extend it for another 10 years of the same gay characters, really? One piece became irrelevant many years ago.

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

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