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Japanese Companies May Join Odex's Case in Singapore
posted on by Egan Loo
Singapore television's Channel NewsAsia reports that the Japanese copyright owners may join the anime distributor Odex's legal attempts to obtain the identities of allegedly unauthorized anime downloaders. Odex and Pacific Internet gave their closing arguments in a Wednesday closed-door hearing to determine Odex's right to information on 1,000 of Pacific Internet's subscribers.
Singapore's Subordinate Court had already ruled against Odex's right to legal action in this matter in August because Odex only demonstrated it had an exclusive license to one of the anime series, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed. Under the country's copyright act, only the original copyright holder or an exclusive licensee can take action. If Judge Woo Bih Li rules against Odex's second attempt due to its lack of exclusive licenses for other titles, Odex's lawyer says that the Japanese copyright holders have applied to join Odex as plaintiffs. Odex had held a joint press conference with representatives of Japanese anime companies to show their support in August.
The Internet Business Law Services news portal provides a legal analysis of Odex's strategy and the obligation that Internet service providers have to maintain their customers' privacy.
