Two people arrested on suspicion of “early discovery” of manga posted online before magazine release

Two Tokyo-based company managers have been charged with violating copyright law for posting images of manga magazines on the Internet before they were released, an act known as "early discovery." He was arrested by the Kumamoto Prefectural Police Headquarters. According to the police, in response to the investigation, the two denied some of the charges, saying, ``I have not made the images public.''

Those arrested were Moussa Samir (36), both foreign nationals, who run Japan Deal World LLC in Kita Ward, Tokyo, which is also suspected of violating copyright law. He was arrested.

According to an investigation by the Kumamoto Prefectural Police Headquarters and other sources, in March last year, the two posted the image data of a popular manga serialized in Shueisha's magazine ``Weekly Shonen Jump'' on the Internet without permission a few days before its release. In addition to making it available for viewing, on the 31st of last month, he was accused of violating copyright law by taking an image of the manga on his smartphone and copying it five days before it was released.

This kind of behavior is called ``early discovery,'' and according to the investigation so far, the two men obtained the magazine at a store in Tokyo before its release date.

Police suspect that there were other people involved and are conducting a detailed investigation into the operation.

According to the police, in response to the investigation, the two denied some of the charges, saying, ``I have not made the images public.''

Shueisha ``We hope this will help prevent future damage''

Regarding the arrest of the suspect, Shueisha, which was affected by the incident, said, ``We hope that the police's clarification of the route of 'early discovery' will help prevent future damage.The author will continue to pour his heart and soul into this work. We will proactively take all possible measures to protect the works we have created and their rights, and to allow our readers to enjoy the manga in an appropriate manner."

What is “early barre”?

An act known as ``early discovery,'' in which images of manga magazines are posted on the Internet before they are released.

According to the police and the publishers affected, many of the images posted by Hayabare are not electronic data from the digital version of the magazine, but are images of the magazine itself taken or read with a scanner. It means that it is seen as.

Why is it possible to photograph a magazine before its release?

Looking at the process by which a magazine is distributed and sold across the country, publishers deliver the magazine to bookstores before the release date in order to have the magazine sold all at once at bookstores nationwide on the official release date. I am.

At this time, publishers are requesting bookstores to start selling on the official release date, but some stores that sell magazines do not adhere to this rule and sell books before the official release date. There are cases where this is the case.

In some cases, the scanned images were modified to appear as if they were not scanned from a paper magazine, but the publisher confirmed that the electronic data had been leaked from the publisher. That means it wasn't.

Publisher: ``Acts that could shake up the structure of the industry''

According to the major publisher that was affected, when images are posted on SNS due to such "early discovery", due to the nature of SNS where posts based on the user's interests are displayed as "recommended" etc. There are cases where the "early reveal" post is displayed without permission, and the user is forced to read the continuation of the story without intending to.

The publisher reportedly received over 1,000 complaints from readers asking to cancel their subscriptions in nearly a week.

Miya Tomishige, Manager of Shueisha's Intellectual Property Division, said, ``We have requested the SNS operator to delete the image, but the poster has deleted the image before making the request. "They often escape having their accounts suspended or frozen, and we are unable to keep up with the response."

He added, ``Because the works are read for free, the creators are not receiving fair compensation.'' We believe that photographing manga works without permission and posting them on social media is a copyright violation. "I would like people to stop doing this. It is an unacceptable act that threatens to shake up the very structure of the industry."