Odex had "no right of civil action" against illegal downloaders
By Loh Chee Kong, TODAY | Posted: 25 August 2007 0158 hrs

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	Related News • Odex case: PacNet need not reveal downloaders' names to distributor

SINGAPORE : Anime distributor Odex had "no right of civil action" against illegal downloaders.

This is because it was just a sub-licensee and not the copyright owner or exclusive licensee for most of the anime titles sold here.

This is the rationale behind the court's surprise dismissal of Odex's bid to get Pacific Internet (PacNet) to disclose its customers' identities.

The judge's 13-page grounds of decision was released on August 24.

District Judge Earnest Lau also noted that Odex was also in no position to initiate criminal prosecution.

On August 23, the judge ordered the company to pay legal costs of more than $7,000.

The judge also expressed unease over the hasty manner in which Odex tried to go after some 1,000 PacNet subscribers.

In particular, he was not convinced of the investigation method it used to uncover the IP addresses and pinpoint the alleged wrongdoers.

Industry observers had expected the court to rule in Odex's favour.

This is especially after it had successfully forced two other Internet service providers, StarHub and SingNet, to hand over the data of those suspected of illegal downloading.

In its letters of demand, Odex is asking for $3,000 to $5,000 compensation and also hinted of criminal prosecution should the subscriber refuse to pay up.

But the judge said under the Copyright Act, "only the copyright owner and the statutory exclusive licensee … have the right to take action against copyright infringers".

He added that Odex appeared to be the exclusive licensee for just one title, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed.

Odex said it would be appealing against the judgement. - CNA /ls