On December 26, 2023, the People’s Court of Taizhou Pharmaceutical High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Jiangsu Province, sentenced Male A to three years in prison, suspended for three years and six months, and fined RMB 1.8 million for copyright infringement by a joint crime in which Male A was the main offender. Male A was criminally arrested by the Public Security Bureau of Jiangsu Province, China, on February 14, 2023, for operating B9GOOD, one of the largest anime piracy websites for Japanese, and was subsequently charged with public prosecution. Subsequently, the appeal period ended and the conviction became final.
In addition, Female B, who received remuneration from Male A for uploading animated cartoons and other content to the site without the right holder’s permission, was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for one year and six months, for copyright infringement as a joint offender with Male A as the main offender, and Female D, who also received remuneration for uploading, was sentenced to eight months in prison and one year suspended for the same offense. The uploader male C, who was being interrogated at the same time, was subject to leniency as stipulated by the Chinese Criminal Law.
In court, Male A fully admitted to the charges against him and expressed remorse and apology. Male A rented servers in China, Canada, Japan, and other countries from 2008 to February 2023, and continued to operate the site for profit for approximately 15 years, changing the site name and domain to “BLUE920,” “B9DM,” and “B9GOOD”. Uploading was done by male A himself or by hiring female B or D. As a result, it was found that a total of 45,880 animations, etc., had been posted without the permission of the rights holders. In the judgment, 1,777,000 yuan was approved as the advertising revenue that Male A improperly obtained. During the seizure, a residence (worth RMB 4 million) was also seized, claiming that it was purchased with illegal income from the operation of the website.
(confirmed on March 10, 2023, some images processed)
Most of the content posted on B9GOOD was Japanese content displayed in Japanese. “B9GOOD” was the largest anime piracy for Japanese anime, with Japanese content displayed in Japanese, and about 95% of accesses were from Japan.
CODA has taken various measures against “B9GOOD” since 2016. In October 2016, an administrative complaint was filed with China’s “Sword Network Action” (※1) regarding the site, which was then operating as “B9DM,” and the Chinese administrative agency accepted the complaint and issued instructions to close the site as an administrative procedure. However, Male A falsely claimed that the site was closed by geo-blocking the site and making it unavailable for viewing in China. After that, he continued his infringing activities toward Japan and other foreign countries.
The damage caused to Japanese content by this extremely malicious site, which posted a large amount of infringing content over a long period of time, is enormous. In 2018, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPA) named “B9GOOD” to the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) list of “Notorious Markets”(※2). It was one of the most noteworthy malicious sites in the world.
CODA has once again launched an investigation of “B9GOOD” under the ” the Cross-Border Enforcement Project (CBEP)” supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) since FY2021, and has succeeded in identifying the operator of this site and obtaining legally corroborated suspect information. Subsequently, CODA compiled information on Japanese victims’ rights holders, and CODA Beijing Office filed criminal charges with the Public Security Bureau on behalf of six member companies (※3), which led to the current revelations. Numerous other CODA member companies (※4) are also cooperating in the investigation to confirm the damage to the works listed on B9GOOD.
This is a milestone, as for the first time, criminal charges from Japan (CODA) have resulted in the criminal arrest of operators and uploaders of pirated Chinese websites. CODA has been closely following the verdict of the “B9GOOD” operators and others.
In this case, the court took into consideration the fact that this was the first offense, and that Male A voluntarily confessed and admitted to the criminal act and showed willingness to accept the punishment, and the punishment was reduced to a suspended sentence. However, this is the first time that a criminal penalty has been imposed on an overseas pirate site operator or uploader as a result of Japanese (CODA) efforts.
CODA expects that this latest detection and ruling against such a malicious site will have a significant impact in deterring similar pirate sites from operating. CODA will continue to actively take action against the growing number of online infringements worldwide, even when those infringements are based overseas, and will continue to work hard to eliminate the misuse of Japanese content.
(translated by automatic translation system)
※1：A special action jointly implemented by four Chinese government agencies-the Cyberspace Administration of China, the National Copyright Administration, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology-to protect copyrights on the Internet and combat infringement and piracy, which was launched in 2005 and is continued annually.
※2：https://www.motionpictures.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/notorious-markets-final.pdf
※3：Aniplex Inc./ TV TOKYO Corporation,/TOEI ANIMATION CO.,LTD./ TOHO CO., LTD./ Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK)/and Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc.
※4：Avex Inc./ ADK Emotions Inc./ KADOKAWA CORPORATION/ KODANSHA LTD./ SHUEISHA Inc.
SHOGAKUKAN Inc./ Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions Co., Ltd./ Shochiku Co., Ltd./ STUDIO GHIBLI INC./
TOKYO BROADCASTING SYSTEM TELEVISION, INC./ Tezuka Productions Co., Ltd./
TV Asahi Corporation/ TOEI COMPANY, LTD./ TMS ENTERTAINMENT CO., LTD. / NIKKATSU CORPORATION/
Japan Association of Music Enterprises/ Nippon Television Network Corporation/ Fuji Television Network, Inc./
PONY CANYON INC./ YOSHIMOTO KOGYO HOLDINGS CO., LTD. / YOMIURI TELECASTING CORPORATION/
WOWOW Inc. (The order of the Japanese syllabary・22 companies)
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About CODA
CODA (Content Overseas Distribution Association) was established in 2002 at the call of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Agency for Cultural Affairs to promote the overseas development of Japanese content and take anti-piracy measures. Japan’s proud content, including music, movies, anime, broadcast programs, video games, and publishing, plays an important role in enhancing the nation’s international presence and economic growth. As digital technology becomes more widespread, it is even more significant to protect Japan’s content from increasingly artful copyright infringement and promote the content industry’s development. CODA contributes to the deterrence and detection of online and other piracy, by sharing knowledge with relevant government agencies, organizations, and companies in Japan and abroad, to engage in direct and indirect anti-piracy measures, as well as public relations activities. Visit https://coda-cj.jp/en/activity/ for more information on CODA’s projects.