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FUNimation Sues 1,337 BitTorre...

FUNimation Sues 1,337 BitTorrent Users Over One Piece

by Snow
Jan 26, 2011 6:56 AM | 157 Comments
In a copyright infringement complaint against 1,337 BitTorrent Users over One Piece has been executed by the North American anime distributor FUNimation Entertainment.
The unidentified defendants, according to the suit filed in the Northern District of Texas, have ''collectively participated, via the internet, in the unlawful reproduction and distribution'' of the 481st episode of One Piece called ''Ace Rescued! Whitebeards Final Order!'' via the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol. The alleged incidents of copyrights infringement took place between 9th of January and 12th of January.

Source: UK Anime

20 of 157 Comments Recent Comments

god people really dont see this

think about it, 1337 users sued for downloading the 420th episode of one peice........no one else sees that?

Aug 13, 2011 8:37 PM by longshoremanX

people are too stupid i hope japan does something about like stop people from recording anime or something like that, all the world can watch anime because some fucking fagot wanna get money from other people work i hope the fansubb just die

Aug 13, 2011 8:18 PM by JackSho

Now I am afriad of downloading.

Aug 13, 2011 7:30 PM by eridanampora

Sabinlerose said:
The ones I really feel bad for here is Funi.

And possible the one unlucky guy who will be screwed if the legal system losses isn't often misplaced common sense.


I'm a bit confused here though. Why were the 1336 others thrown out then? What did this one person specifically do to keep the pressure on them?
I admit I only skimmed the article but I'm fairly sure it didn't say s/he was an uploader.


'Alea jacta est', literally, it seems... dice... with... too many sides. D:

I pity FUNi, they really seem to be the ones people are making fun of:
1. By the Japs who most likely forced them to get the case to court.
2. By the judge.

Even if it was just meant to be a warning, it looks like FUNi's the punching bag here~

Obviously I hope that poor fella' will get the case thrown out; it'd be too unfair to get such a tremendously 'high' fine for one individual.

Now we need Luffy to get there 'n shout "I won't abandon my nakama!" and (alike the episode released a few weeks before the concerned one) use that bad-ass (Conqueror's) Haki of his to get him outta there.

By the way: can you get sued for distributing small bits of data? I mean like seeding parts of an episode, for instance. If not, no seeders could be sued as long as their ratio remains below 1 (if I'm not mistaken/too dumb to understand the ratio system), therewith actually fueling torrenting (to some extent, but therewith also slowing down people's DL speed 'cause some people may just want to keep their ratio below 1.000, instead of ULing without limits).

P.S. No, I'm not drunk nor am I going through any kind of weird medication.
P.P.S. I'm not the only one gifted with fantasy or... haunted by such delusions~


-Eleni

Feb 27, 2011 10:21 AM by Eleni

I'm glad I didn't dowanload One Piece.

Feb 22, 2011 9:09 PM by Hellobee

$350 to get 1336 people to stop illegally downloading their shows for a few months is probably a pretty good deal.

Feb 21, 2011 9:41 PM by seiyu

thepsychoticone150k is the maximum fine. Even if they do win, they won't get that much. It's rather insane, but that's what it is, and we all know it. Anyone who isn't willing to take the (incredibly small) risk, shouldn't be pirating anything.

I do feel bad for whoever it is, and i think the penalties for piracy are overly excessive, but i can't really them for enforcing their rights (even if it's a stupid thing to do, that will likely cost them money in the long run). Besides, there's a pretty decent chance the case will just get thrown out, or result in a slap on the wrists anyway.[/quote said:

The thing is it's wrong.
Funi did NOT lose 150k over one person downloading.

Thats what was so great about hitting 1337 people.
The total amount would be around a hundred twenty dollars. A speeding ticket. A fine. Something that is justifiable damages and is a warning that it's not going to be tolerated.

I hope it gets thrown out. And I don't blame Funi for the matter. In fact I feel sorry for Funi because they still need to go after that one person or face backlash from the Japanese.

Feb 21, 2011 8:45 PM by Sabinlerose

Sabinlerose said:
thepsychoticone said:
Sabinlerose said:
Paladin65536 said:
The judge gave this ruling basically saying you can't charge a group of people with a conspiracy if they never conspired together. In this case, the 1,337 pirates never once met each other, never once knew the others identities, never once communicated in any way, and so they can't be considered a whole, and have to be charged individually. It's not really a bad ruling overall (though it does have some very bad implications for the single person left charged.) Let's hope for the best for this last pirate.

Thats why I called the judge an idiot.
Throwing out all but one person. I guess they rolled a 1337 sided dice for which person was the "Conspiercy" perp. I mean if they can't prove it existed...then why is that one person being saddled with it all?

Makes sense not.
The one person is still guilty of piracy. If they wanted to, funi could file agianst the other 1336 individually, but it'd cost them $350x1336=$467,600 just to file the claims, not to mention lawyer fees, etc.

Oh there is no question they are all guilty.

However what is actually happening is pure bullshit compared to what could have happened. Life ruining charges instead of a speeding ticket.
150k is the maximum fine. Even if they do win, they won't get that much. It's rather insane, but that's what it is, and we all know it. Anyone who isn't willing to take the (incredibly small) risk, shouldn't be pirating anything.

I do feel bad for whoever it is, and i think the penalties for piracy are overly excessive, but i can't really them for enforcing their rights (even if it's a stupid thing to do, that will likely cost them money in the long run). Besides, there's a pretty decent chance the case will just get thrown out, or result in a slap on the wrists anyway.

Feb 21, 2011 6:21 PM by RachelB

thepsychoticone said:
Sabinlerose said:
Paladin65536 said:
The judge gave this ruling basically saying you can't charge a group of people with a conspiracy if they never conspired together. In this case, the 1,337 pirates never once met each other, never once knew the others identities, never once communicated in any way, and so they can't be considered a whole, and have to be charged individually. It's not really a bad ruling overall (though it does have some very bad implications for the single person left charged.) Let's hope for the best for this last pirate.

Thats why I called the judge an idiot.
Throwing out all but one person. I guess they rolled a 1337 sided dice for which person was the "Conspiercy" perp. I mean if they can't prove it existed...then why is that one person being saddled with it all?

Makes sense not.
The one person is still guilty of piracy. If they wanted to, funi could file agianst the other 1336 individually, but it'd cost them $350x1336=$467,600 just to file the claims, not to mention lawyer fees, etc.

Oh there is no question they are all guilty.

However what is actually happening is pure bullshit compared to what could have happened. Life ruining charges instead of a speeding ticket.

Paladin65536 said:
Sabinlerose said:
The ones I really feel bad for here is Funi.

And possible the one unlucky guy who will be screwed if the legal system losses isn't often misplaced common sense.


I'm a bit confused here though. Why were the 1336 others thrown out then? What did this one person specifically do to keep the pressure on them?
I admit I only skimmed the article but I'm fairly sure it didn't say s/he was an uploader.

Most likely he was picked at random. The judge just said that FUNi couldn't charge more then one person per submitted case, so all but one person was dropped.
Also, it's possible none of the original 1,337 uploaded the original file (or even had anything to do with the fansubbing group,) they too were just picked at random from the list of seedersleechers. It's illegal to download too ya know, not just upload.

Oh I know that.
I'm just scratching my head trying to figure out what the one guy or gal did to be targeted.

And the only logical thing I could come up with was s/he was the one who uploaded the torrent, which would have enabled others to download it.
Or perhaps was someone who had seeded a larger amount then any of the other 1336.

Feb 21, 2011 3:17 PM by Sabinlerose

Sabinlerose said:
Paladin65536 said:
The judge gave this ruling basically saying you can't charge a group of people with a conspiracy if they never conspired together. In this case, the 1,337 pirates never once met each other, never once knew the others identities, never once communicated in any way, and so they can't be considered a whole, and have to be charged individually. It's not really a bad ruling overall (though it does have some very bad implications for the single person left charged.) Let's hope for the best for this last pirate.

Thats why I called the judge an idiot.
Throwing out all but one person. I guess they rolled a 1337 sided dice for which person was the "Conspiercy" perp. I mean if they can't prove it existed...then why is that one person being saddled with it all?

Makes sense not.
The one person is still guilty of piracy. If they wanted to, funi could file agianst the other 1336 individually, but it'd cost them $350x1336=$467,600 just to file the claims, not to mention lawyer fees, etc.

Feb 21, 2011 1:49 PM by RachelB

Sabinlerose said:
The ones I really feel bad for here is Funi.

And possible the one unlucky guy who will be screwed if the legal system losses isn't often misplaced common sense.


I'm a bit confused here though. Why were the 1336 others thrown out then? What did this one person specifically do to keep the pressure on them?
I admit I only skimmed the article but I'm fairly sure it didn't say s/he was an uploader.

Most likely he was picked at random. The judge just said that FUNi couldn't charge more then one person per submitted case, so all but one person was dropped.
Also, it's possible none of the original 1,337 uploaded the original file (or even had anything to do with the fansubbing group,) they too were just picked at random from the list of seeders\leechers. It's illegal to download too ya know, not just upload.

Feb 21, 2011 12:31 PM by Paladin65536

The ones I really feel bad for here is Funi.

And possible the one unlucky guy who will be screwed if the legal system losses isn't often misplaced common sense.


I'm a bit confused here though. Why were the 1336 others thrown out then? What did this one person specifically do to keep the pressure on them?
I admit I only skimmed the article but I'm fairly sure it didn't say s/he was an uploader.

Feb 20, 2011 10:05 PM by Sabinlerose

Bostonblows said:
Leon-Gun said:
Sabinlerose said:
Paladin65536 said:
The judge gave this ruling basically saying you can't charge a group of people with a conspiracy if they never conspired together. In this case, the 1,337 pirates never once met each other, never once knew the others identities, never once communicated in any way, and so they can't be considered a whole, and have to be charged individually. It's not really a bad ruling overall (though it does have some very bad implications for the single person left charged.) Let's hope for the best for this last pirate.

Thats why I called the judge an idiot.
Throwing out all but one person. I guess they rolled a 1337 sided dice for which person was the "Conspiercy" perp. I mean if they can't prove it existed...then why is that one person being saddled with it all?

Makes sense not.
That's also why it seems unlikely even that one person will get fined. The lone person can argue that he's being singled out which will pretty much turn the whole thing in circles and the judge will eventually just throw the case or do a slap on the wrist and get going.


kind of hard to argue that one person d/ling and/or uploading 1 episode of one piece caused funimation $150,000 in damages.

^
What Boston said, if it gets thrown out, it'll be for something along this line.

@Sabin and Leon - It's not the conspiracy that they're going to trial for, but the piracy. The conspiracy or lack thereof only determines whether they can be tried as a whole or only as individuals. The reason FUNi struck out against them was probably to appease the Japanese producers. If they did nothing to fight the piracy, then the producers would be irritated with FUNi, and would most likely raise the cost of licensing anime in America. This of course would only decrease the quality of professionally subbed\dubbed anime in America, and also raise the cost. FUNi knew that making a scene would decrease piracy, at least temporarily, in America, and so keep the Japanese producers happy. This helps keep the cost of anime low, and the quality high, relatively speaking.

Went off on a tangent there...anyway, odds are one of four things will happen now:
(In order of probability)
1. The case will be thrown out.
2. The fine will be lowered to a more reasonable amount. (probably around $500 or so, if it's just one person.)
3. The case will continue with $150,000 as the fine for that single person.
4. They will pursue every individual pirate from the original 1,337 they can identify with a reduced fine.

That last one probably won't happen unless OP's producers demand FUNi to take this to the next level. The amount of work in filing that many cases at once would be a terrible strain on FUNi, maybe more then it can handle, so I doubt they wanna see it happen any more then we do.

Feb 20, 2011 9:42 PM by Paladin65536

Leon-Gun said:
Sabinlerose said:
Paladin65536 said:
The judge gave this ruling basically saying you can't charge a group of people with a conspiracy if they never conspired together. In this case, the 1,337 pirates never once met each other, never once knew the others identities, never once communicated in any way, and so they can't be considered a whole, and have to be charged individually. It's not really a bad ruling overall (though it does have some very bad implications for the single person left charged.) Let's hope for the best for this last pirate.

Thats why I called the judge an idiot.
Throwing out all but one person. I guess they rolled a 1337 sided dice for which person was the "Conspiercy" perp. I mean if they can't prove it existed...then why is that one person being saddled with it all?

Makes sense not.
That's also why it seems unlikely even that one person will get fined. The lone person can argue that he's being singled out which will pretty much turn the whole thing in circles and the judge will eventually just throw the case or do a slap on the wrist and get going.


kind of hard to argue that one person d/ling and/or uploading 1 episode of one piece caused funimation $150,000 in damages.

Feb 20, 2011 8:53 PM by Bostonblows

Sabinlerose said:
Paladin65536 said:
The judge gave this ruling basically saying you can't charge a group of people with a conspiracy if they never conspired together. In this case, the 1,337 pirates never once met each other, never once knew the others identities, never once communicated in any way, and so they can't be considered a whole, and have to be charged individually. It's not really a bad ruling overall (though it does have some very bad implications for the single person left charged.) Let's hope for the best for this last pirate.

Thats why I called the judge an idiot.
Throwing out all but one person. I guess they rolled a 1337 sided dice for which person was the "Conspiercy" perp. I mean if they can't prove it existed...then why is that one person being saddled with it all?

Makes sense not.
That's also why it seems unlikely even that one person will get fined. The lone person can argue that he's being singled out which will pretty much turn the whole thing in circles and the judge will eventually just throw the case or do a slap on the wrist and get going.

Feb 20, 2011 8:20 PM by Leon-Gun

Paladin65536 said:
The judge gave this ruling basically saying you can't charge a group of people with a conspiracy if they never conspired together. In this case, the 1,337 pirates never once met each other, never once knew the others identities, never once communicated in any way, and so they can't be considered a whole, and have to be charged individually. It's not really a bad ruling overall (though it does have some very bad implications for the single person left charged.) Let's hope for the best for this last pirate.

Thats why I called the judge an idiot.
Throwing out all but one person. I guess they rolled a 1337 sided dice for which person was the "Conspiercy" perp. I mean if they can't prove it existed...then why is that one person being saddled with it all?

Makes sense not.

Feb 20, 2011 7:38 PM by Sabinlerose

Bostonblows said:
Onibokusu said:
Bostonblows said:
Bump for this latest development http://www.japanator.com/funi-forced-to-drop-1-336-defendants-from-its-lawsuit-18644.phtml

This honestly just makes me lulz, not good for future lawsuits against future pirates. The company made an arse outta themselves and gained nothing =P


You didn't understand the point of the lawsuits, did you? It was a publicity stunt.

Also, take a guess at how much that one person is going to be fined? Here's a hint, it's not within 3 digits.


i completely understand the situation. And that 1 person won't get anything, it'll just be thrown out.

That's not definite, it's entirely possible that one person may have to pay the full $150,000 for downloading a single episode. At this point,the case SHOULD either be thrown out or have the fine readjusted back down to a more moderate number, but there's no guarantee yet that either will happen.

Sabinlerose said:
It's not Funi's fault that the judge was a fucking idiot.

The judge gave this ruling basically saying you can't charge a group of people with a conspiracy if they never conspired together. In this case, the 1,337 pirates never once met each other, never once knew the others identities, never once communicated in any way, and so they can't be considered a whole, and have to be charged individually. It's not really a bad ruling overall (though it does have some very bad implications for the single person left charged.) Let's hope for the best for this last pirate.

Feb 20, 2011 1:22 AM by Paladin65536

Onibokusu said:
Bostonblows said:
Bump for this latest development http://www.japanator.com/funi-forced-to-drop-1-336-defendants-from-its-lawsuit-18644.phtml

This honestly just makes me lulz, not good for future lawsuits against future pirates. The company made an arse outta themselves and gained nothing =P


You didn't understand the point of the lawsuits, did you? It was a publicity stunt.

Also, take a guess at how much that one person is going to be fined? Here's a hint, it's not within 3 digits.


i completely understand the situation. And that 1 person won't get anything, it'll just be thrown out.

Feb 19, 2011 6:27 PM by Bostonblows

Bostonblows said:
Bump for this latest development http://www.japanator.com/funi-forced-to-drop-1-336-defendants-from-its-lawsuit-18644.phtml

This honestly just makes me lulz, not good for future lawsuits against future pirates. The company made an arse outta themselves and gained nothing =P

It's not Funi's fault that the judge was a fucking idiot.

If it had gone the way Funi planned...brilliant.
The judge however decided to make it into a.....um. Fucking American show.

Feb 19, 2011 9:04 AM by Sabinlerose

Bostonblows said:
Bump for this latest development http://www.japanator.com/funi-forced-to-drop-1-336-defendants-from-its-lawsuit-18644.phtml

This honestly just makes me lulz, not good for future lawsuits against future pirates. The company made an arse outta themselves and gained nothing =P


You didn't understand the point of the lawsuits, did you? It was a publicity stunt.

Also, take a guess at how much that one person is going to be fined? Here's a hint, it's not within 3 digits.

Feb 19, 2011 1:34 AM by no-thanks

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