Danica Davidson
October 28, 2024 
Japanese publishers are getting more aggressive going after piracy sites, and in one case publisher PCR Distributing is taking legal action against the site nHentai. Quite a bit of PCR Distributing’s adult work ends up on nHentai, where the piracy site is offering it for no cost. For an example of nHentai’s reach, it’s reported that 80 million people visited it just in the month of June. Now, as things move forward, nHentai is alleging that PCR Distributing is actually okay with the piracy and has been working with them for banner space.
The porn piracy site’s lawyers shared emails they say are from workers at PCR Distributing and written to workers nHentai. One 2020 email remarked, “We know that people don’t always have the money to buy official releases, or just don’t want to pay for them. We know that the only reason any market at all for anime or manga exists in the West is because of piracy, so we’re not interested in trying to fight any sites about this stuff.”
The email also made it clear that it wanted to buy banner space on nHentai. It stated, “The banners aren’t meant to be intrusive, they don’t move, they don’t try to shame or make you feel bad. They’re just there so that fans who want to own physical, uncensored, english-language versions of the doujinshi they love so much can purchase them.”
PCR Distributing’s lawyers were unimpressed and cast doubt that these emails were even real, commenting, “To support its claim of ‘permission’ Defendant cites an unauthenticated email that could be completely made up. Even taken as true, it does not establish a license or consent to use Plaintiff’s copyright protected content.”
On top of that, the PCR lawyers reported that multiple Digital Millennium Copyright Act notices had been sent to nHentai since 2020, and that the piracy site disregarded them.
Source: Gizmodo
____
Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
Related Posts
