Manga piracy site owner “has no intention” of paying $11 million penalty, taking similar stance to 4chan owner Hiroyuki
The former owner of the major Japanese manga piracy site Mangamura (Manga Village) was ordered to pay 1.7 billion yen (approx. $11 million) in damages to three manga publishers by The Tokyo District court on April 18. However, according to a report by NTV News, the defendant does not plan to comply with the order.
The court ruled in favor of publishers Kadokawa, Shueisha and Shogakukan, who had filed a civil lawsuit against Mangamura operator Romi Hoshino for the unauthorized hosting of titles such as One Piece and Kingdom on the site. The publishers had originally sought 1.9 billion yen in damages, which is the largest claim ever made in a piracy case (source: Asahi News).
The complaint argues that Mangamura had hosted approximately 8,200 pirated copies of manga (about 73,000 volumes) over the span of two years, which were viewed by up to 100 million users per month. Based on these figures, total damages to the publishers are estimated to amount to 320 billion yen (approx. $2.7 billion), a portion of which they hope to retrieve through the civil suit.
On the other hand, as soon as the court’s ruling was finalized on April 18, Hoshino told media (seen in the video above) that he has “absolutely no intention” of paying the fine. He dismisses the court’s verdict, calling it baseless and comments, “I do not feel the slightest remorse.”
Hoshino assumes a stance reminiscent of 2channel founder and 4chan owner Hiroyuki Nishimura, who has famously ignored million-dollar fines resulting from lawsuits related to his controversial website. Commenting on the topic back in 2008, Hiroyuki told Wired, “If the verdict mandates deleting things, I’ll do it. I just haven’t complied with demands to pay money. Would a cell phone carrier feel responsible when somebody receives a threatening phone call?”
It might be important to note that Romi Hoshino has previously served a 3-year prison sentence for his key role in running Mangamura.
Piracy is always due to a lack of access or convenience. Publishers need to try and out innovate the pirates rather than trying to play a game of hide and seek.