It will be illegal from the 1st of next month to download comics posted on the Internet without permission, knowing that they are "pirated".
Minor things such as a few frames of a tens of pages of manga are not regulated, but experts warn that "downloading a full reading of one episode is a typical illegal thing."
Until now, music and video have been subject to restrictions on the download of "pirated editions," but with the revision of the Copyright Law, the scope will be expanded to all copyrighted works such as cartoons and books from the 1st of next month. ..
On the other hand, in order to avoid leading to the atrophy of Internet usage, it is illegal only to download while knowing that it is a "pirated version", and to download minor things such as several frames of tens of pages of comics and images. It is not subject to the regulation such as the reflection in the "screenshot" that saves.
According to the organization "ABJ" created by publishers, among the top 10 pirated sites that are frequently accessed from Japan, the number of accesses to sites where you can download manga etc. reached more than 60 million last month. ..
Kensaku Fukui, an attorney who is familiar with copyright law, said, "If you inadvertently download illegal content, it is not subject to regulation, but it is typical illegal to download a whole episode while knowing that it is a pirated version." , Calling attention by distinguishing between legitimate and pirated sites.
According to the "Contents Overseas Distribution Promotion Organization," which is working on measures against piracy, the damage caused by pirated content in Japan distributed online was estimated to be about 333.3 billion yen to 430 billion yen in Japan and overseas last year. Publications such as books containing manga account for more than 30%, from about 140.7 billion yen to 155.2 billion yen, and countermeasures are an issue.