The Nihon Keizai Shimbun paper reported on Monday that five major Japanese movie and anime companies are collaborating on a countermeasure initiative against domestic and overseas Internet piracy. Through the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), the initiative will automatically search for videos that were submitted without authorization and demand that site administrators delete the unauthorized materials. The participating companies include TOHO, Studio Ghibli, and Sunrise, and the association is exploring the possible future involvement of commercial broadcasters and record companies.
The initiative will start with the monitoring of 10 to 15 works, such as Ponyo and Mobile Suit Gundam 00, on major video-sharing websites in China in the middle of November. Thereafter, the system will expand the number of sites it monitors to those outside China.
NHK News reported on Tuesday that over 38,000 Japanese-animated videos are distributed without authorization on the Internet every month. The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA) and other participants began the month-long survey this past February. According to the survey, these unauthorized videos are seen about 69 million times.
CODA is a private umbrella group of 22 companies and 20 organizations involved with content and copyrights in Japan. Its stated goal is "to stamp out piracy and promote the legal distribution of Japanese content, in particular in Asia."
