Japan-based Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) announced that a roundup operation conducted by the Public Security Bureau (PSB) of China’s Jiangsu Province over the first six months of 2024, resulted in the arrests of 13 people, including the operator. They were suspected of violating copyright laws by creating unlicensed websites and selling subscription-like accounts to view the videos in the library.
In addition, both of the two unlicensed subscription-like websites were operated in China for the local Chinese audience, not for the Japanese audience, and were online infringements “From and for overseas” that have been becoming more and more apparent in recent years. The “From and for Overseas” pirate sites are considered an urgent and important issue in the “Intellectual Property Promotion Plan 2024” released by the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters of the Japanese Cabinet on June 4, 2024.
Indictments were still forthcoming as this article was published.
The SHEN LAN operation
A raid conducted on January 8, 2024, revealed the establishment and operation of “SHEN LAN,” a subscription-like website that duplicated large amounts of Japanese content, primarily anime, without the rights holders’ permission, uploaded it to a personal media server, a legal service, and allowed streaming playback from a variety of devices.
Investigation revealed that “SHEN LAN” could stream more than 10,000 movies, animations, TV dramas, documentaries, concerts, and other contents from Japan, the U.S., the U.K., France, and other countries, and for Japanese anime works, which were the most frequently infringed Japanese content. As of December 2023, 1,008 works (21,981 episodes) had been confirmed to be available.
Account access was sold for between 98 yuan (approximately JPY1,960 or USD13.50) and 1,068 yuan (approximately JPY21,360 or USD148.00), depending on the length of term, picture quality, etc. Revenue generated through “SHEN LAN” was found to be worth 5 million yuan (approximately JPY109 million or about USD753,000).
As a result of the PSB investigation, 10 people – the primary suspect and technology, maintenance, uploading, account sales, and customer service personnel – were arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement. Nine laptops, 2 desktop computers, 2 servers, 11 cell phones, and multiple storage devices were seized during the raid, and all data on the servers were preserved as evidence after obtaining the management accounts and passwords for “SHEN LAN”.
An 11th suspect was arrested in Hubei Province on January 24.
The COCO operation
COCO was established in May 2021 and operated by three people until their arrest in June 2024. The unjustified income from the operation of “COCO” was found to be more than 4 million yuan (approx. JPY86.7 million or USD600,000)
On June 5, 2024, based on the testimony of one of the “SHEN LAN” suspects, 11 investigators and cybersecurity experts were dispatched to search the homes and workplaces of the suspect brothers. “COCO” was established and operated by the same method as “SHEN LAN” by copying a large amount of Japanese content such as movies and TV dramas, mainly anime, without permission of the rights holders.
The Public Security Bureau revealed that more than 100,000 episodes of content were available for streaming playback on “COCO,” including approximately 20,000 episodes of anime and other movies and TV dramas.
Further reading
Operators of unlicensed subscription-like websites criminially exposed in China for the first time. A total of 13 people, including the operators of the two cases, were arrested one after the other. Press release. July 16, 2024. Copyright Overseas Distribution Association (CODA)
Why it matters
This is the first time that the operator of such an unlicensed subscription-like websites overseas has been exposed through a complaint from Japan (CODA). The law enforcement operation was carried out after CODA’s Beijing office filed criminal complaints with the Jiangsu PSB on behalf of Japanese right holders in December 2023 and April 2024, respectively, regarding the two crimes.
(Picture source: CODA)
