SINGAPORE: Anime distributor Odex has defended its action against illegal downloaders as a form of enforcement against piracy rather than for profit.

Rumour has it that the company earned some S$15 million by taking action against illegal downloads.

Computer users, most of them teens, have been pilfering anime titles from the Web.

In fact, one report even ranked Singapore number one in the world, when it comes to illegal anime downloads per capita.

Odex has uncovered close to 500,000 cases of illegal downloading so far.

To further prove its point, Odex has roped in about 30 Japanese copyright holders who have said they will support Odex in its legal move.

That move saw Odex going to court to force SingNet and StarHub to release the names of their subscribers who have illegally downloaded its cartoons.

The result - a backlash against Odex.

Some people have accused the company of sending 1,000 warning letters, each supposedly called for the identified subscriber to pay between S$3,000 and S$5,000 in fines.

But at a news conference on Thursday, Odex said that there was no fine involved. It said 300 letters were sent out.

About a third of the recipients settled with Odex for an undisclosed sum. The rest are being mediated.

The company claimed that any excess money from the move, after deducting costs, will be donated to a charitable cause.

Odex added that no one was forced to pay beyond his/her means.

"This exercise was never meant to be just an enforcement. It's not a profiteering mission to get as much money from everybody. It was conceptualized with a very big picture (in mind).

"Illegal downloaders can download animes for all they want... five years, ten years, there will be nothing left to download. This is the fear that most strikes us. We want to address that situation," said Stephen Sing, director of Odex Pte Ltd.

That's why Odex still plans to continue what it calls its enforcement process. Its target - an 80 or 90 percent reduction in illegal downloads.

That seems like quite a stretch, since the company has seen only a 17% drop in illegal downloads this month.

More importantly, Odex may not have the right to pursue its so-called enforcement after all.

Despite the company's success against SingTel and StarHub, a judge has ruled that Pacific Internet does not have to give up the names of its subscribers who have been accused of illegally downloading anime.

This is because the court found that Odex is just a sub-licensee and not the copyright owner or exclusive licensee for most of the anime titles sold in Singapore.

Odex says it will launch an appeal to reverse the latest court ruling. - CNA/ir