Kakao Entertainment’s relentless campaign against manga and webtoon piracy continues to gain momentum, with the company now setting its sights on three additional major piracy sites, one of which is stated to be the world’s biggest manga piracy site.
This comes on the heels of the high-profile takedown of Tachiyomi earlier this year.
Kakao’s latest anti-piracy report (P.CoK Anti-Piracy Whitepaper Vol. 5), which covers the first six months of 2024, highlighted the company’s extensive efforts to combat illegal distribution.
The report outlines ongoing legal actions against three major piracy sites, which remain unnamed in full but are described in sufficient detail to allow for their identification by those familiar with the industry.
One of these sites, which is identified as just ‘M’, was described by the company as the world’s no.1 manga piracy site, in terms of traffic and the works that are available on it.
According to Kakao, Site ‘M’ has consistently ignored warning letters from P.CoK. However, they have now identified three major operators of the site including the creator, and are preparing for a joint legal action against them.
Japan’s CODA is also reportedly said to be a part of this legal action against site M.
The other two sites which are at risk of facing legal action include a top five fan-translation group and a large Chinese manhua site.
This English-speaking fan translation group, which Kakao only mentions in the report as “***scans“, ranks among the top five in the world for illegal translations and distributions.
They revealed that the group is notorious for distributing translated webtoons illegally on platforms like YouTube and Facebook.
Interestingly, Kakao’s report also stated that ***scans has been taken over by an unnamed overseas comics company, which has continued the illegal activities by hiring key managers from the original group.
Kakao is preparing legal action against both ***scans and the company responsible.
Finally, a large Chinese site, ***manhua, which is involved in the illegal distribution of translated content throughout China is also under Kakao’s crosshairs.
The publisher claims that the site operates through a network of clone sites that are inaccessible in Korea, making it difficult to combat.
Despite multiple warnings, ***manhua has continued its activities, prompting Kakao to prepare a civil lawsuit in cooperation with legal Chinese platforms.
P.CoK noted in the report that piracy sites often used tricks like banning the IPs of Korea and Japan to prevent users from these countries from accessing these websites. However, their team was able to overcome these restrictions and proceed to take action against the piracy sites.
During the period mentioned in the report, Kakao’s Illegal Distribution Response Team, known as P.CoK, expanded its monitoring to more countries, developed a sophisticated identification system for illegal site operators, and increased engagement with stakeholders, including national governments, copyright agencies, content providers, investigative agencies, and creators.
These efforts led to the identification of 31 illegal sites and services, with seven of them shutting down as a direct result of Kakao’s actions.
One of the most notable takedowns during this period was Tachiyomi, a popular manga reader app that had garnered significant attention.
Kakao’s report reveals that communication with Tachiyomi’s developer played a crucial role in its eventual shutdown, as the company took issue with what it perceived as insufficient compliance with copyright regulations.
Kakao Entertainment’s aggressive pursuit of pirates has not been without controversy. Earlier this year, the company’s P.CoK unit faced criticism for offering rewards to webtoon fans willing to report on piracy activities. Despite this, the company’s efforts appear to be yielding results, as evidenced by the successful takedowns and ongoing legal actions against major piracy sites.
As Kakao continues to ramp up its anti-piracy initiatives, the manga and webtoon industry will be watching closely to see how these legal battles unfold and what impact they will have on the broader fight against illegal distribution.
Source: Kakao’s Anti Piracy report via Torrentfreak