Opinions on the Odex fiasco in Singapore

[Roarkiller]

If you haven't heard, Singapore's largest (the rest barely make a dent, actually) anime distributor is launching legal lawsuits to downloaders all over Singapore, and hundreds have already been made to pay anywhere between 3-5k (albeit settled out of court, paid to Odex directly) and to sign an agreement to never download anime, clause included where you admit that you have downloaded anime.

Think the mp3 crackdown a few years ago.

Anyway, I call it a fiasco because while the intention is to crack down on downloads and get people to support the local releases, what it did was to get nearly everyone to BOYCOTT the company. Basically, ppl who MAY buy the titles are now people who WILL NOT buy the titles.

The summary is as follows: Odex created a branch to provide local releases of anime. However, their releases are notorious for extremely bad subtitling that makes no sense, translations of translations (jap->chinese->english), and worse of all: some of their "translators" simply ripped subs of fansubs.

Other complaints include sub-par video quality (much debated) and a questionable choice of titles, where some fans argue are unlikely to sell due to their unpopularity, as well as some titles being more than 2 years old, as well as some where production simply stopped (One Piece was supposedly stopped at box 8, or episode 104).

Supposedly, the situation has changed and professional translators are brought in, although this information is still doubtful, and more recent titles brought in, like Monster and Solty Rei. But because of the initial "hiccups", fans no longer trust the quality of the company of the majority seem to have simply given up over buying their releases, and continued to look at fansubs for their anime needs.

Thus a few months ago, Odex decided to take legal action against downloaders.

The lastest news is the long-awaited update of the Odex website.

Click here (www.odex.com.sg)

Previously, the site contains a full two words, which are "Under" and "Construction". As you can see, that has expanded to an essay of legal junk probably no one can understand, consisting of lots of probable bullshit.

This thread (http://sgcafe.com/showthread.php?t=36656) is where you can that latest news (WARNING: Singaporeans aren't known for good english). You can find my very long post near the end, posted under this very same name.

Feel free to look around to read the numerous topics, all lamenting about the same situation in various ways.

There's also another website, a subsidiary of Odex, called AVPAS, or Anti-Video Piracy Association Singapore (http://www.avpas.com.sg). If you click the link to the Authorized Titles, you'll find an extensive list of what is supposedly ILLEGAL for download in Singapore.

But don't bother going through it. One glance is enough to tell you that it's simply a copy&paste list of virtually every popular and semi-popular anime title.

Oh, and here's the thing: the list doesn't reflect what is actually licensed and available in Singapore. Far from it, what's actually available here is but a very tiny fraction.

And here's the best part: there's almost no way of knowing what exactly is available on the shelves. The website, as mentioned above, is an embarrassment.

Here is where YOU guys come in.

What do you guys think of the situation?

[mr_pikachu]

No offense, but... this is one of the risks of downloading fansubs and stuff of licensed anime. If you take chances, this is one of the possible outcomes. I only see two concerns here... the first is that Odex's business and website apparently suck, and the second is that the legal grounds for such a lawsuit seem uncertain. (I would think such a case would have to be handled by a higher governing body like America's MPAA, but I could be wrong.)

In any event, while I pity those people who are being hit with this lawsuit, they did roll the dice. Better to just import if the local professionals can't do a satisfactory job, I guess. If it does result in a boycott, maybe that'll force Odex to start producing decent material or go out of business. We'll see.


P.S. If the website is as bad as you say, then I could easily do a better job as well. And have on numerous occasions. Wonder if they're hiring. ;)

[Roarkiller]

Their "stance" is to discourage anime. However, their initial stance remain that they are doing it because they are suffering from a loss.

Which as stated thousands of times in the linked forum, is due to their very poor quality, not because of downloading. And the thing is, they even go after 9-year olds AS WELL AS those who have bought their products, so their stand of "losses" is quite literally seen as a bluff.

Also m_p, the link to their site is in my post, first one.

EDIT: The forum has moved every related topic to this forum (http://sgcafe.com/forumdisplay.php?f=78).

Where Dark-san when you need him?

[mr_pikachu]

I get what you're saying about their argument being ludicrous, Roar. I mean, they're not going to turn around their business by attacking people like this - the first thing they need to do is improve their product. That's obvious. But even if it's stupid from their point of view (and yes, it is; I totally agree with you there), it's not a reason for those people who have been targeted by Odex to get upset about it. Again, I'm sorry, but if you download licensed material you're rolling the dice. If you want to avoid things like this, play it safe and import something decent. They can't fault Odex for responding to what they did, even if the listed reasons seem a little stupid.

And I'm willing to take your description of the website at face value for the moment, Roar. Had a migraine this morning, and I'm about to run to lunch now. I'll check it out later.

[Roarkiller]

Well actually, that's the thing. Virtually everyone IS buying from somewhere else, see.

Did I mention that there was no warning letter sent out either? In fact, before this whole saga, they even refused to say anything. They forced their claims without warning.

[DarkTemplarZero]

Singapore's part of the WTO and I guess the WTO's telling them to crack down. Same thing's happening in Russia cuz they're trying to join the WTO and the site that every Russian goes to download music has been shut down. But yeah, this is really ridiculous. Anime and manga are so popular mostly because of fansubs, they're just shooting anime in the foot.

[Roarkiller]

Singapore's part of the WTO and I guess the WTO's telling them to crack down. Same thing's happening in Russia cuz they're trying to join the WTO and the site that every Russian goes to download music has been shut down. But yeah, this is really ridiculous. Anime and manga are so popular mostly because of fansubs, they're just shooting anime in the foot.

WTO isn't involved. The company made the move itself independantly, supposedly because "downloading is affecting their sales" (they have yet to fully admit that their products sux to begin with).

Would it make more sense if I told you guys that the company is only a distritor/sub-licensee? Meaning they never had the rights to sue in the first place. And the "japanese companies" they are acting on behalf are distributors too (mostly TV stations). The actual copyright owners aren't even involved in the matter.

The current situation is, that Odex has failed in their most recent case to get a 3rd internet provider to reveal personal info, because they never had the rights to do so (the first consented, the 2nd fought half-heartedly).

The community is awaiting for the results of appeal in about a week's time. The result will ultimately decide what happens to the company and to us.