Danica Davidson
January 10, 2022 
Piracy is a major issue hitting the manga and anime worlds, especially during COVID with so many people homebound. Take a look at these numbers: from January to October last year, piracy in Japan bilked creators and publishers out of 800 billion yen (about $6.92 billion). For a whole year, the manga market makes about 600 billion yen ($5.19 billion). In other words, the people creating and working on manga are earning less than half of what’s owed them, and that’s only for Japan. Plenty of manga piracy goes on in other countries, too.
As a result, the International Anti-Piracy Organization (IAPO) is debuting in April, and groups from more than thirteen countries have joined Japan in this. The Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) in Japan is very much involved with IAPO. CODA consists of 32 Japanese companies, including but not limited to Studio Ghibli, Toei Animation, Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan, Bandai Namco Arts, Sunrise, Pony Canyon, etc.
Outside of Japan, America’s Motion Picture Association is going to work with IAPO, and so are about 450 members of the Copyright Society of China. It appears as though companies from South Korea and Vietnam will probably join soon as well.
Masaharu Ina, the director of CODA, stated that plans for IAPO began last year. IAPO will be working with law enforcement in different companies to crack down on piracy and bring criminal investigations against people who are stealing manga and anime. Since other countries might not be as aware as Japan about all the anime and manga piracy out there, this organization can help spread the word and supply helpful information and aid.
“Our plan is to start the new organization in or around April this year and share the information on piracy sites compiled in each country and provide same to the police of the country where the servers are located for example,” Ina said.
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, and its sequel, Manga Art for Intermediates, with professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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