For those who haven't seen this article, it was posted back in March. Never took it serious until now.
Top manga publishers are vowing a legal crackdown on sites wicked enough to post spoilers about the plot of such gems as Naruto and One Piece, blaming them for their declining sales, and have already threatened one of one of the largest such sites into virtual closure.
According
Terrified, they swiftly deleted all their spoiler information and links, announcing no further such coverage of Naruto or One Piece would follow.
The publisher revealed in discussions that although the publishing industry formerly ignored the posting of spoilers, with many sites posting almost the entirety of the manga whose story elements they were covering and with sales of manga continuing to decline, now they are apparently determined to take “stern measures” to deal with anyone so keen on their manga as to bother checking 0-day spoiler sites for news of Naruto’s latest jutsu.
Target sites are “just think of them as any who come up at the top of a search,” although they will at least be comforted to know that publishers “want to deal with them quietly without taking sudden legal action with no warning.”
This is reputedly because lawsuits are a costly hassle rather than out of any niceness on their part, and the admin of the site being shut down in any case says “legal action without warning seems likely.”
There is some suggestion that publishers may have worked out that Internet coverage is now probably the main driver of new sales though, as they do promise mercy to some sites – those “recognised as having made a contribution to the spread of manga culture will not be deprived of due consideration.”
They also made clear that whether English or Japanese, the copyright situation is the same and action may be taken, suggesting scanlators may not be safe either.
The implicit assumption that the Internet is to blame for the decline in sales and that it has nothing to do with the publishing industry itself, its refusal to embrace non-paper based distribution and Japan’s demographic situation were soon picked up online – most notably by those who recall how Japan’s music industry secured the full criminalisation of downloading copyrighted material only to see sales collapse even faster than ever, but as with banning anything in Japan it has many defenders too:
That sucks because I still buy the volumes and sometimes WSJ online. U_U
Top manga publishers are vowing a legal crackdown on sites wicked enough to post spoilers about the plot of such gems as Naruto and One Piece, blaming them for their declining sales, and have already threatened one of one of the largest such sites into virtual closure.
According
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from the administrator of major Naruto spoiler site “Naruto Channel”
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from a publisher indicating that “we would be grateful if you would be so kind as to delete your articles and close your site.”Terrified, they swiftly deleted all their spoiler information and links, announcing no further such coverage of Naruto or One Piece would follow.
The publisher revealed in discussions that although the publishing industry formerly ignored the posting of spoilers, with many sites posting almost the entirety of the manga whose story elements they were covering and with sales of manga continuing to decline, now they are apparently determined to take “stern measures” to deal with anyone so keen on their manga as to bother checking 0-day spoiler sites for news of Naruto’s latest jutsu.
Target sites are “just think of them as any who come up at the top of a search,” although they will at least be comforted to know that publishers “want to deal with them quietly without taking sudden legal action with no warning.”
This is reputedly because lawsuits are a costly hassle rather than out of any niceness on their part, and the admin of the site being shut down in any case says “legal action without warning seems likely.”
There is some suggestion that publishers may have worked out that Internet coverage is now probably the main driver of new sales though, as they do promise mercy to some sites – those “recognised as having made a contribution to the spread of manga culture will not be deprived of due consideration.”
They also made clear that whether English or Japanese, the copyright situation is the same and action may be taken, suggesting scanlators may not be safe either.
The implicit assumption that the Internet is to blame for the decline in sales and that it has nothing to do with the publishing industry itself, its refusal to embrace non-paper based distribution and Japan’s demographic situation were soon picked up online – most notably by those who recall how Japan’s music industry secured the full criminalisation of downloading copyrighted material only to see sales collapse even faster than ever, but as with banning anything in Japan it has many defenders too:
Can't give credit to the site, because it's not for kids. Therefore, I will credit the author Artefact.
That sucks because I still buy the volumes and sometimes WSJ online. U_U
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