Korean Giant Kakao Takes Action Against Major Manga Piracy Sites
In 2024, the company’s anti-piracy unit, known as P.CoK, began offering rewards to webtoon fans who report pirates. Now, in its fifth anti-piracy report, Kakao reveals its achievements and legal actions against three major manga sites.
Korean Giant Kakao Takes Action Against Major Manga Piracy Sites
With the growing popularity of digital products, especially those distributed online, Kakao reports that it faces tough competition from illegal platforms offering the same content for free. Anti-piracy strategies vary depending on the product and audience, but many companies are joining groups like the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment to strengthen their fight against this threat.
However, Kakao has taken a more personalized approach. Its anti-piracy unit, P.CoK, stands out by directly confronting pirates, even recruiting webtoon fans as “secret agents” on social media to expose them.
Results of the First Half of 2024
P.CoK’s fifth report, covering the period from January to June 2024, highlights several advances. The company reports that it improved its monitoring systems and expanded the reach of its operations, collaborating with governments, copyright agencies, and other stakeholders.
These efforts include expanding monitoring to new countries, creating its own system to identify illegal site operators, and conducting interviews with industry representatives to strengthen copyright awareness.
During the first half of 2024, P.CoK identified 31 illegal platforms, resulting in the shutdown of seven of them. One of these platforms was the Tachiyomi reading app, which gained significant attention when it was temporarily taken down. Kakao also issued warnings to the app’s developer, emphasizing the need for greater compliance with copyright laws.
Legal Actions Against Major Sites
The report details ongoing actions against three major manga sites. Although the full names are not disclosed, the descriptions provided are enough for many to identify at least two of them. Kakao, in partnership with the Japan-based anti-piracy group CODA, is preparing joint lawsuits against these platforms.
- Site ‘M’: Known as the largest manga piracy site in the world, Site ‘M’ has repeatedly ignored Kakao’s warnings. The company claims to have identified three key operators and is preparing a joint Korea-Japan legal action to hold them accountable.
- Site ‘*scans’: This site, run by an English-language translation group, ranks as one of the top global piracy platforms. Kakao reports that the platform illegally distributes translated webtoons on YouTube and Facebook. The company that took control of the site is now facing legal action, along with the managers involved in the distribution.
- Site ‘*manhua’: A large Chinese site that distributes illegal translations throughout China via clone sites, ‘*manhua’ ignored several warnings from Kakao. The company is preparing a civil lawsuit in cooperation with legal Chinese platforms.
We’ll see what happens in the coming months.
via: Você Sabia Anime