The crackdown has begun

[JWR]

Well it seems that several of the licence holders for the English translations of Manga have started to send out cease and disist letters to verious sites that host scanalations of manga series ordering them to remove certain series from their sites that had been available for download. If they do not comply they will be subjuect to possible criminal and civil proceedings.

This is the message on one site.
On Wednesday January 9thApproximately 48 hours after receiving a request to remove files licensed to Digitam Manga Publishing, Mangatraders.com received an official takedown request from Tokyopop Inc. The list of series we've been asked to remove is approximately 4 pages long and it was not sent in a format conducive to copying so I can't post them all here. Check this list to get an idea of what is probably going to have to be taken down. From analyzing the list we can tell it was definitely created on or around January 6th, 2008. As a response we have made all site content invisible to non-registered users and disabled new user registration. It remains to be seen if there will be a user purge but it is not out of the question as it is quite possible a member or members of the community are in fact representatives of cooperate interests. We will cooperate with formal requests because we are encouraged to by law but we will no longer make ourselves obvious targets by publicly flaunting our business to anyone who wishes to look.

Series affected:
+Anima
.hack//Alcor
.hack//Dusk
.hack//GU+
.hack//XXXX
07-Ghost
A.I. Love you
Acony
Ai Yori Aoshi
Akuma to Dolce
Alichino
ALIVE
Amatsuki
Angel Diary
Angelic Layer
Aqua
Arcana
Arcana Soul
Aria
Ashita no Yoichi!
Aspirin
Bakuretsu Tenshi
Baroque
Battle Club
Battle Royale
Battle Vixens (Ikkitousen)
Beautiful People
Beck
Beyond the Beyond
Bird Kiss
Blame!
Blood Sucker
Bloody Kiss
Boys Be
Brave Story
Broken Angels
Bus Gamer
Carat!
Cardcaptor Sakura
Cherry Juice
Chobits
Chronicles of the Cursed Sword
CLAMP School Detectives
Clover (CLAMP)
Confidential Confessions
Cowboy Bebop
Cyber 7
Dazzle
DearS
Demon Diary
Demon Sacred
Deus Vitae
Diabolo
DNAngel
Dolls
Dragon Head
Dragon Knights
Dragon Voice
Duklyon: CLAMP School Defenders
Eden no Hana
Eensy Weensy Monster
Eerie Queerie
Erementar Gerad
Et Cetera
Faeries Landing
FAKE
Far East
Fate Stay Night
Fever
FLCL
Fool’s Gold
Fruits Basket
Full Metal Panic
Futari Ecchi
Futari Ecchi for Ladies
Gacha Gacha
Gakuen Alice
Gakuen Heaven (yaoi)
Ga-rei
Genjuu no Seiza
Gerard & Jaques
Get Backers
Gravitation
Great Techer Onizuka (GTO)
Grenadier
Gundam SEED x Astray
Hana to Akuma
Hands Off!
Harlem Beat wa Toaki made
HaruHana
Heaven!
High School of the Dead
His and Her Circumstances
Hitsuji no Namida
Ichigo Mashimaro
Ikinari Full Metal Panic
Initial D
Innocent Bird
Innocent W
Judas
Junai Tokkou Taichou
Kaichou wa Maid Sama
Kamichama Karin
Kamikaze
Kamiyadori
Karakuri Odette
Kimi ga Koi ni Ochiru
Kimi wa Pet
KimiKiss
King of Hell
King of Thorns
Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts – Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts II
Kirara
Kiss and Never Cry
Kobato
Koi Cha no Osahou
Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai
Koori no Mamono no Monogatari
Kyou Kara Maoh
Lagoon Engine
Lament of the Lamb
Love Hina
Love Mode
Love Pistols
Loveless
Lucky Star
Magic Knight Rayearth
Magical x Miracle
Mai Otome Arashi
Mai-HiME
Mai-Otome
Mai-Otome Zwei
Mamotte! Lollipop
Marmalade Boy
Mars
Meine Liebe
Menkui
Metal Heart
Metamo Kiss
Mirai Nikki
Missile Happy
Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed
Moon Phase
MPD Psycho
Mugen Spiral
Nabari no Oh
Neck and Neck
Never Give UP
New Petshop of Horrors
Nouryokusha Nanaki
Onii-chan to Issho
Peace Maker
Peach Girl
Petshop of Horrors
Pita-Ten
Pixie Pop
PlanetES
Priest
Princess Ai
Psychic Academy
Queen
Qwan
Ragnarok,
Rave Master
Rebirth
RG Veda
Rose Hip Rose
Rose Hip Zero
Sailor Moon
Sailor V
Saiunkoku Monogatari
Saiyuki
Saiyuki Gaiden
Saiyuki Reload
Sakura Taisen
Samurai Deeper Kyo
Sapuri
Seikai Trilogy
Seikon no Qwaser
Senki Senki Momotama
Shiawase Kissa San Choume
Shin Megamitensei
Shonan Jun’ai Gumi
Shrine of the Morning Mist
Shugo Chara
Silver Diamond
Slayers
Soul Rescue
Speed Grapher
Star Wars
Suki
Suppli
Tactics
Tarot Café
The Devil Ororon
The Embalmer
The Good Witch of the West
The Missing
The Rose of Versailles
Togainu no Chi
Togari
Tokko
Tokyo Babylon
Tokyo Mew Mew
Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode
Tokyo Underground
Trinity Blood
Tsubasa wo Motsu Mono
Urukyu
Vampire Doll
Vampire Game
Vampire Kisses
Velvet Blue Rose
Venus Capriccio
Warcraft the Sunwell Trilogy
Welcome to the NHK
Wild Adapter
Wish
World Embryo
X
X-Day
Yamada Taro Monogatari
Yasashii Ryuu no Koroshikata
Yorozuya Toukaido Honpo
Yubisaki Milk Tea
Zig x Zag
Zodiac P.I.


as well as these from Tokoyopop:
Trigun
Trigun Maximum
Hellsing
Berserk
The Day of Revolution
Princess Princess
Hero Heel
The Ring
Yellow
Pathos
G Senjou no Neko
Waru
Passion
White Brand
Gorgeous Carat
Worst
Little Butterfly
Spell
Tenka Muso
Sky Over My Spectacles
Toumei Shounen
Sensitive Pornograph
Lost Boys
Secret Diplomacy
Harem de Hitori
Alcohol Shirt and Kiss
Trouble Double Face
Bokudake no Ousama
Junk Boy
Desire
Ikoku Irokoi Romantan
Only the Ring Finger Knows
Family Complex
Our Kingdom
Loveholic
BondZ
Ano Kado Wo Magatta Tokoro
Black Sun
Koi wa Istumo Arashi no You ni
Akuma no Himitsu
Cafe Kichijoji
Enchanter

I would be surprised if several of the other companys like Viz follow suit.

[sugarcels]

That's... quite a list!

[Goldknight]

I appreciate what they're trying to do, but what jurisdiction would they have on foreign sites that do it?

[JWR]

I appreciate what they're trying to do, but what jurisdiction would they have on foreign sites that do it?

Heres what was explained on the Mangatraders site by one of their administrators:

In conversing with the person who sent the e-mail it appears that their company holds the license to the English language version of all of these titles, and so we're not allowed to host them even for non-Americans. I don't really understand how a translation can be licensed, but if you can get insurance on breast implants I guess you can do just about anything. The implications of this in English speaking places like the UK or Australia are unknown to me at this time, if any of you have bought Hellsing, Trigun, or Berserk volumes in either of those countries I'd love to know the name of the publishing company.

As to the law it is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (AKA the criminalize any use of the internet that might result in a loss of money for businesses Act) of 1998.

The gist of it is, you can't offer copyrighted material online, but if you are asked to take it down and you comply you can't be held liable (aka you can't be sued or go to jail or anything). Also don't be so quick to blame everything on America, it isn't America's copyright enforcement laws that are the root of the problem it's the international copyright laws themselves. If a guy in Japan makes a manga to sell and copyrights it international law dictates that all countries who've signed the treaty honor his copyright and prosecute anyone who is violating it, that's something many, many, countries agree in, it's just that American Companies tend to be the ones that call for the enforcement of these laws the most vocally.