I just heard the news that Odex lost its case against Pacific Internet. The court ruled that the ISP need not hand over the names and IPs of several anime downloaders. Lucky you to those who signed up Pacific Internet. I'd like to offer some views of mine on the recent Odex vs anime downloaders commotion.
First of all, downloading copyrighted material is strictly illegal under Singapore Law. The fact that ODEX products are more inferior than fansubs does not change the fact that downloading copyrighted material is illegal in Singapore, neither does the fact that ODEX director mocked at anime fans. I've heard fans used all kind of excuses like "internet sharing helps make animes more well-known", "Odex should go for purposeful offenders who distribute/download animes illegally for commercial gains, not the fans", etc to justify their download act. This is simply WRONG. None of the excuses makes downloading copyrighted material legal.
Secondly, is the punishment handed upon anime downloaders too harsh? Each is fined about $3000~$5000. Odex said the fine is only used to cover the costs of enforcement. I believed it because news has said ODEX applied for court orders to make ISPs released the names and IPs. The legal cost is certainly very high, consider the number of offenders is so big. So ODEX is actually lenient toward offenders. If you dare to download illegally, then you also dare to take the consequences.
I support ODEX's legal action, but I don't support ODEX's products. So what can we do? stop downloading anime and stop buying ODEX products. It's reality.
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I'm ANTI reviewers using pirated, downloaded... "No pirated, no downloading, no parallel import".
That's my call. At least dont involve the three when you review, you shame yourself when you do so.
you know that we should not be pirate all those, so...
