Over the last year, Japan has tightened its copyright rules and regulations. The increasing number of piracy issues has already cut down profits in the anime and manga industries.
In April 2022, companies from over 13 countries came together to form the IAPO or International Anti-Piracy Organization. This move jeopardized a lot of piracy websites, but not all of them.
The latest piracy victim is Dragon Ball: Super: Super Hero, the anime movie. The film opened in Japan on June 11 and will be released in theaters worldwide in August.
Toei Animation, the studio which produces the Dragon Ball franchise, has revealed that there have been around 3000 cases in which illegally recorded footage of the movie have been uploaded on the Internet.
The pirated videos were found on several social media websites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms. Another shocking factor is that this overwhelming number of uploads were made within just 10 days of the movie’s release.
Violating Japan’s Act on Prevention of Unauthorized Recording of Films leads to imprisonment of up to 10 years or $73,000. Toei has confirmed that the studio will strictly deal with such acts.
The studio has already consulted with its advisory law firm and investigated the damage caused by the leaks. Both criminal and civil charges will be put forth against the perpetrators.
In addition to charges, theaters are also getting closely monitored. Applications for deletion of illegally uploaded videos have also been submitted.
I hope that the crackdown stops people from committing such acts. Piracy cost Japan’s manga industry a loss of $6.92 billion from January to October 2021. The loss exceeds the proceeds which were $5.19 billion.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was released after a delay due to Toei’s Animation hack which occurred in March. The film has already suffered enough setbacks, and piracy isn’t making it any easier on the studio and creators.
About Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is the twenty first film in the Dragon Ball series. It is a computer-animated martial arts fantasy/adventure film, directed by Tetsuro Kodama, produced by Toei Animation and written by Dragon Ball series creator Akira Toriyama.
It features successors of the Red Ribbon Army who were once destroyed by Goku. Now they have returned with androids, Gamma 1 and Gamma 2, to take revenge on the Saiyan.
Source: Official Website
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