Over 30 Manga Sites Successfully Hit with Anti-Piracy Legal Action by Kakao Entertainment
Published on August 21, 2024
- Kakao Entertainment's anti-piracy unit reportedly closed more than 30 manga websites that operated illegally.
- The copyright-infringing sites’ operators seem to have been identified as well.
- The company’s report mentions preparing trials for several other such services that ignored all previous warnings.
Several pirate manga websites distributing Kakao Entertainment’s “webtoon” comics were shut down by the company’s Illegal Distribution Response Team (P.CoK) anti-piracy unit. The operators of 31 such services were identified via “sophisticated and tailored monitoring strategies.”
Mostly visible on social media, the Kakao anti-piracy unit claims to recruit webtoon fans as undercover operatives and recently offered rewards for disclosing information on digital pirates.
One of the closed platforms was the reader app Tachiyomi, which became popular when it was first taken down. Kakao sent a message to Tachiyomi’s developer, citing alleged insufficient compliance.
The Kakao report mentions a P.CoK and Japan-based anti-piracy group CODA joint action in an unidentified country that targeted the operator of “M,” the world’s No. 1 manga piracy site, whose three major operators were reportedly identified.
It also talks about an alleged English-speaking translation group ranked in the top 5 worldwide that illegally transcribes and distributes translated webtoons on YouTube and Facebook, whose key managers were hired by an unnamed overseas comics company.
A large Chinese site was also accused of distributing illegal translations throughout China through clone sites that are inaccessible in Korea. All these are reportedly facing a trial soon.
During the first half of 2024, P.CoK expanded its scope and started monitoring more countries via its own identification system for pirate website operators.
The Kakao unit engaged in more proactive initiatives to enhance copyright awareness and interviewed copyright industry stakeholders such as governments, copyright agencies, content providers, investigative agencies, and creators.
In July, three Vietnamese nationals were found guilty of copyright and related rights infringement. They were arrested in January for operating illegal streaming websites, and each got suspended convictions and thousands of dollars in fines.