FUNimation Files Lawsuit Against 1,337 Illegal Uploaders of One Piece

[Marik]

Heh, Funimation is going after people that downloaded Ep 481 from yibis, with the hash b305c19f8e8bdab5e39b33a4ffc364a12beb110b.

COMPLAINT against DOES 1 - 1,337 filed by FUNimation Entertainment. Summons(es) not requested at this time. In each Notice of Electronic Filing, the judge assignment is indicated, and a link to the Judges Copy Requirements is provided. The court reminds the filer that any required copy of this and future documents must be delivered to the judge, in the manner prescribed, within three business days of filing. (Filing fee $350; Receipt number 0539-3685393) Unless exempted, attorneys who are not admitted to practice in the Northern District of Texas should seek admission promptly. Forms and Instructions found at www.txnd.uscourts.gov, or by clicking here: Attorney Information - Bar Membership (Attachments: # 1 Cover Sheet, # 2 Exhibit(s) List of Does) (Stone, Evan) (Entered: 01/24/2011)

FUNimation files lawsuit against 1,337 illegal uploaders of One Piece

ANN has an article also.

News: Funimation Sues 1,337 BitTorrent Users Over One Piece

hashtag.png

[Assertn]

Heh, Funimation is going after people that downloaded Ep 481 from yibis, with the hash b305c19f8e8bdab5e39b33a4ffc364a12beb110b.

News: Funimation Sues 1,337 BitTorrent Users Over One Piece

hashtag.png

onepieceofficial.com is great quality, updated fast, and the newest eps never have ads. I dunno why people would still download Yibis, anyway. I wonder if they picked that number on purpose...

[TwisT]

Because that site is for American's (or maybe all of North America can access) only. That means that the rest of the world either have to go trough a proxxy/tunnel his connection to watch from that site, or they could just download with one click. Which sounds easier? Also some people wanna archive so they can watch from the harddrive. Although i go for HorribleSubs myself since I'm to impatient when it comes to OP, and i only archive KF. But then again i don't really have to fear getting sued over anime. I'm guessing they only sue over that in the US.

EDIT: But if i had access without any haggle i would watch it from a legit site like onepieceofficial.com. I think it's a great move to stream it for free and it should be supported so that others will learn from this.

[Assertn]

Isn't that what crunchy roll is for, or something? If you don't live in the US, you're probably safe from the lawsuits anyway.

[Marik]

Funimation is filing for $150,000 in damages, which comes out to about $112 per person. The sites witnessed in this matter include isohunt.com, kickasstorrents.com and nyaatorrents.org. Also, there's a pdf with the ips of the 1,337 John Does. I have attached the pdf file.

Exhibit(s).pdf

[RyougaZell]

heh... Funimation makes me laugh

[DarthEnderX]

Funimation is filing for $150,000 in damages, which comes out to about $112 per person.

You know what, that's actually...reasonable. Not like the RIAA trying to sue some teenage girl for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So often lawsuits are just in ridiculous amounts that don't represent the actual money the company suffers.

I'd probably pay it. And not download any more episodes after that.

Course, I'd also stop buying One Piece DVDs.

[Kraco]

Maybe I should switch away from Yibis... Although I doubt they would first go after downloaders from some small remote country.

You know what, that's actually...reasonable. Not like the RIAA trying to sue some teenage girl for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So often lawsuits are just in ridiculous amounts that don't represent the actual money the company suffers.

I find it funny in a very sad way how, over here, if you rape somebody you'll be looking forward to paying some 5000€ to the victim. But, heaven forbid, you upload music, movies, or TV series - you'll be paying 100,000€.

[Assertn]

I find it funny in a very sad way how, over here, if you rape somebody you'll be looking forward to paying some 5000€ to the victim. But, heaven forbid, you upload music, movies, or TV series - you'll be paying 100,000€.

5000? Not bad. Some of the high-end prostitutes would cost more than that.

[RyougaZell]

Maybe I should switch away from Yibis... Although I doubt they would first go after downloaders from some small remote country.

You could try mIRC or megaupload for yibis.

They can't do much to someone in another country though. They are just being asses to random americans and fail at being funny choosing 1337 users.

Its funny they targeted a Yibis file, seeing as Yibis uses an encode made from Japan and uses their own translations. I would understand if they sued Horriblesubs, which steals their version and their subs... but Yibis?

I stopped buying Funimation DVDs when they blocked international access to their low-quality stream. I still buy the manga though, since Viz hasn't been an ass like Funi.

[Kraco]

It seems I got this specific episode from a bot anyway. And yeah, it would be far too much trouble for them to hire a Finnish lawyer to sue a random small-time torrent user.

[Carnage]

I find it funny in a very sad way how, over here, if you rape somebody you'll be looking forward to paying some 5000€ to the victim. But, heaven forbid, you upload music, movies, or TV series - you'll be paying 100,000€.

Aside being sued for far too much money for downloading, I find it more surprising that the penalty for rape is only a 5000 euro fine....

[Kraco]

That's obviously not the whole penalty for a rape. It's only the compensation going to the victim. Typically you will count bricks for a while in a prison.

[Sentenal]

You could try mIRC or megaupload for yibis.

They can't do much to someone in another country though. They are just being asses to random americans and fail at being funny choosing 1337 users.

Its funny they targeted a Yibis file, seeing as Yibis uses an encode made from Japan and uses their own translations. I would understand if they sued Horriblesubs, which steals their version and their subs... but Yibis?

I stopped buying Funimation DVDs when they blocked international access to their low-quality stream. I still buy the manga though, since Viz hasn't been an ass like Funi.

Funimation only has the rights to One Piece for North America (or just the US? idk), so they obviously have to block international access. If Funimation was streaming stuff for people outside of their own region, they would be just as "guilty" as fansubbers.

Additionally, while it would have made sense to go after Horriblesubs too, what Yibis does is still illegal. "Stealing their version", as in the actual translation, probably doesn't matter shit, its the fact that they distribute illegal copies (via fansubbing) of One Piece in their region. In their eyes, stealing business.

Also just to note, I don't have anything against downloading Fansubs, since I get them myself. I'm just saying that what Funimation is doing here is justified, even if I chose not to care lol

[Sapphire]

How is it justified? Just because it's a law doesn't mean it deserves to be followed. Anime downloading laws are unreasonable and virtually unenforceable. This leads to people inconsistently being "caught" and probably serves as a deterrence to no one except the guy who ends up having to pay the fine. (And he probably won't stop illegally downloading, will just make more efforts not to get caught).

If Funimation wants to make money they should figure out how to work competitively while still making a profit in the current times, instead of just suing everyone and their mom.

[RyougaZell]

Funimation only has the rights to One Piece for North America (or just the US? idk), so they obviously have to block international access. If Funimation was streaming stuff for people outside of their own region, they would be just as "guilty" as fansubbers.

You said it. Funimation only has the rights to One Piece on North America. Yet they tried to shut down access to fansubs (and failed horribly) to all the planet when they begun streaming. Now they are starting a witch hunt within their own country.

[DarthEnderX]

onepieceofficial.com is great quality, updated fast, and the newest eps never have ads. I dunno why people would still download Yibis, anyway. I wonder if they picked that number on purpose...

Because I have a slow internet connection that makes streaming video a horrible experience.

[Munsu]

I'm still waiting to get sued over downloading One Night in Paris...
http://www.tmz.com/2011/01/24/paris-...ss-video-porn/

[Sentenal]

How is it justified? Just because it's a law doesn't mean it deserves to be followed. Anime downloading laws are unreasonable and virtually unenforceable. This leads to people inconsistently being "caught" and probably serves as a deterrence to no one except the guy who ends up having to pay the fine. (And he probably won't stop illegally downloading, will just make more efforts not to get caught).

If Funimation wants to make money they should figure out how to work competitively while still making a profit in the current times, instead of just suing everyone and their mom.

lol

I agree they need to figure out how to make it work competitively while still making a profit. IMO if they streamed it at like 720p at the time they release now, they would pretty much shutdown One Piece subbing, in North America at least. Maybe offer direct downloads with ads encoded into the video for people who can't stream? IDK.

But are you really going to argue that Funimation isn't justified in defending their IP rights? "Just because its law doesn't mean it should be followed"? That pretty dangerous thinking lol (plus you would probably only apply that selectively to laws that you choose not to follow). If something is easy to steal, I guess that means there should be no laws against thievery?

You said it. Funimation only has the rights to One Piece on North America. Yet they tried to shut down access to fansubs (and failed horribly) to all the planet when they begun streaming. Now they are starting a witch hunt within their own country.

They tried to shut down access to fansubs to "all the planet" because those fansubbers were illegally distributing their content in their region. Are they supposed to just turn a blind eye to it or something?

I'll say again that I download fansubs, and I'm not condemning anyone for doing it themselves. I just think its crazy for people to act like they are the bad guys when they are the ones allegedly being harmed by fansubs distributing in their region.

[Buffalobiian]

How is it justified? Just because it's a law doesn't mean it deserves to be followed. Anime downloading laws are unreasonable and virtually unenforceable. This leads to people inconsistently being "caught" and probably serves as a deterrence to no one except the guy who ends up having to pay the fine. (And he probably won't stop illegally downloading, will just make more efforts not to get caught).

They're not justified or being unreasonable? It's intellectual property theft. It's the same situation as the music and movie industry without the push.

I don't believe that just because it's hard to catch someone downloading illegally that they shouldn't act on it, like you've suggested. The only issue I have is using IPs as "proof" if IP-snooping and impersonation is an issue to otherwise affect innocent people and legitimacy of said "proof".

That's where these lawsuits come in, and it's up to the judge to determine whether these logs, the "proof", are enough to prove that intellectual property theft took place.