In the summer of 2017, some of the world’s largest entertainment groups formed a huge coalition with a mission to reduce online piracy.
Comprised of more than 30 companies, the Alliance for Creativity is now at the forefront of global anti-piracy enforcement. By combining its members’ resources to tackle infringement wherever it may occur in the world, the cross-border nature of piracy is now being addressed more effectively.
A new anti-piracy group set to launch this April appears to have similar goals in mind.
International Anti-Piracy Organization (IAPO)
At the heart of IAPO will sit the Japan-based anti-piracy group Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA). Director Masaharu Ina informs TorrentFreak that CODA planned the foundation of the IAPO coalition last year and talks have been held with the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the Copyright Society of China, plus other organizations around the world.
“Our plan is to start the new organization in or around April this year and share the information on piracy sites compiled in each country and provide same to the police of the country where the servers are located for example,” he explains.
Information shared with Nikkei indicates that copyright protection groups from around 13 countries will join together in a single international organization with the goal of disrupting piracy around the world.
Focus on Anime and Manga
In recent years, manga publications and anime content have enjoyed a massive international rise in popularity and with that a substantial rise in piracy rates. So, in common with their US counterparts that are also dealing with a global anti-piracy problem, companies in East Asia recognize that building overseas alliances is the logical step forward.
At the time of writing, CODA has 32 members including manga and anime giants Aniplex, Kadokawa, Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan and Toei. The MPA has six members including Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros. The China Copyright Association represents 450 local content companies. These along with additional groups from South Korea and Vietnam are all expected to participate in the IAPO.
According to Nihon Keizai Shimbun, one of IAPO’s goals is to deal with pirates wherever they are located. While servers located in Japan can be dealt with locally, very often sites use hosts overseas. Having international partners will improve the investigation process while encouraging police to take on more cases where greater damage is being caused overseas by locally-hosted piracy operations.
In the event that local police responses to calls for investigations are sluggish, IAPO says it intends to escalate its requests to the relevant governments.
Last year, CODA member Shueisha requested help from a US court in order to track down the operator of Mangabank, a giant manga site that in the wake of the move shut down its operations.
