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Kakao Entertainment's pursuit of pirates distributing the company's 'webtoon' comics has been controversial at times, yet appears to be delivering results. Earlier this year the company's P.Cok anti-piracy unit offered rewards for webtoon fans to snitch on pirates. With the release of Kakao's fifth anti-piracy report, the company details its successes and reveals legal action targeting three major manga sites.
For companies reliant on sales of digital products delivered via the internet, any level of success is likely to face not just unlicensed competition, but rivals offering identical products with a price tag marked ‘free’.
How to tackle this threat depends on the product, the audience, and the location and nature of pirate sites and services active in the niche. Current thinking suggests that companies with synergies can benefit by pooling resources, with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment perhaps the most obvious example.
Kakao Entertainment’s approach to content protection is somewhat more bespoke. The company’s ‘P.CoK’ anti-piracy unit stands out for engaging pirates head-on. Most visible on social media, P.CoK claims to recruit webtoon fans as undercover operatives and recently offered rewards for those willing to blow pirates’ cover.
Kakao’s latest anti-piracy report reveals the results of various initiatives for the first six months of 2024.
P.CoK Anti-Piracy Whitepaper Vol.5
Having previously produced four comprehensive reports, Kakao’s fifth edition covers the period January to June 2024. During that period the company says that technical systems were enhanced while outreach to rightsholders, governments, and other stakeholders, helped in various ways.
“During the first half of 2024, Kakao Entertainment Illegal Distribution Response Team (P.CoK) expanded its monitoring countries and its scope, established its own identification system for illegal site operators, and engaged in more proactive initiatives to enhance copyright awareness,” the paper begins.
“P.CoK conducted various interviews with copyright industry stakeholders such as national governments, copyright agencies, content providers (CPs), investigative agencies, and creators.”
From these interviews, Kakao says it derived “important insights” regarding industry-level solidarity and the value of “collective responses to illegal distribution.”
Results for January-June 2024
During the first six months of the year, P.CoK says that its “sophisticated and tailored monitoring strategies” enabled it to identify the operators of 31 illegal sites/services with seven of those shutting down as a result.
One of those platforms was reader app Tachiyomi, interest in which soared when the project was initially taken down. The full report (available in Korean only) reveals communication from Kakao to Tachiyomi’s developer, apparently in response to what the company perceived as insufficient compliance.
Warning clarification….
The report also details actions currently underway against three major sites. None of are named in full, but for those desperate to know, the descriptions in the report should be sufficient to identify at least two.
Legal Action Pending Against Three Major Sites
Summary of key details/allegations contained in the report, including joint action featuring P.CoK and Japan-based anti-piracy group CODA:
Site ‘M’
• Site ‘M’ is the world’s No. 1 manga piracy site based on traffic and number of works
• Site ‘M’ has consistently failed to respond to warning letters from P.CoK
• P.CoK says it has identified three major operators, including the creator of Site ‘M’
• Joint Korea/Japan legal action in an unidentified country, targeting operator of Site ‘M’
***scans
• ***scans has an English-speaking translation group ranked in the top 5 in the world
• ***scans continuously carries out illegal translation / distribution
• Translated webtoons are often illegally distributed on YouTube and Facebook.
• ***scans has been taken over by an unnamed overseas comics company
• Company hired key managers of existing translation group, continues illegal distribution
• Legal action being prepared against ***scans and the company
***manhua
• ***manhua is a large Chinese site, distributing illegal translations throughout China
• Systematic illegal distribution through clone sites that are inaccessible in Korea
• ***manhua has ignored multiple warnings
• Civil lawsuit being prepared in cooperation with legal Chinese platforms
For companies reliant on sales of digital products delivered via the internet, any level of success is likely to face not just unlicensed competition, but rivals offering identical products with a price tag marked ‘free’.
How to tackle this threat depends on the product, the audience, and the location and nature of pirate sites and services active in the niche. Current thinking suggests that companies with synergies can benefit by pooling resources, with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment perhaps the most obvious example.
Kakao Entertainment’s approach to content protection is somewhat more bespoke. The company’s ‘P.CoK’ anti-piracy unit stands out for engaging pirates head-on. Most visible on social media, P.CoK claims to recruit webtoon fans as undercover operatives and recently offered rewards for those willing to blow pirates’ cover.
Kakao’s latest anti-piracy report reveals the results of various initiatives for the first six months of 2024.
P.CoK Anti-Piracy Whitepaper Vol.5
Having previously produced four comprehensive reports, Kakao’s fifth edition covers the period January to June 2024. During that period the company says that technical systems were enhanced while outreach to rightsholders, governments, and other stakeholders, helped in various ways.
“During the first half of 2024, Kakao Entertainment Illegal Distribution Response Team (P.CoK) expanded its monitoring countries and its scope, established its own identification system for illegal site operators, and engaged in more proactive initiatives to enhance copyright awareness,” the paper begins.
“P.CoK conducted various interviews with copyright industry stakeholders such as national governments, copyright agencies, content providers (CPs), investigative agencies, and creators.”
From these interviews, Kakao says it derived “important insights” regarding industry-level solidarity and the value of “collective responses to illegal distribution.”
Results for January-June 2024
During the first six months of the year, P.CoK says that its “sophisticated and tailored monitoring strategies” enabled it to identify the operators of 31 illegal sites/services with seven of those shutting down as a result.
One of those platforms was reader app Tachiyomi, interest in which soared when the project was initially taken down. The full report (available in Korean only) reveals communication from Kakao to Tachiyomi’s developer, apparently in response to what the company perceived as insufficient compliance.
Warning clarification….
The report also details actions currently underway against three major sites. None of are named in full, but for those desperate to know, the descriptions in the report should be sufficient to identify at least two.
Legal Action Pending Against Three Major Sites
Summary of key details/allegations contained in the report, including joint action featuring P.CoK and Japan-based anti-piracy group CODA:
Site ‘M’
• Site ‘M’ is the world’s No. 1 manga piracy site based on traffic and number of works
• Site ‘M’ has consistently failed to respond to warning letters from P.CoK
• P.CoK says it has identified three major operators, including the creator of Site ‘M’
• Joint Korea/Japan legal action in an unidentified country, targeting operator of Site ‘M’
***scans
• ***scans has an English-speaking translation group ranked in the top 5 in the world
• ***scans continuously carries out illegal translation / distribution
• Translated webtoons are often illegally distributed on YouTube and Facebook.
• ***scans has been taken over by an unnamed overseas comics company
• Company hired key managers of existing translation group, continues illegal distribution
• Legal action being prepared against ***scans and the company
***manhua
• ***manhua is a large Chinese site, distributing illegal translations throughout China
• Systematic illegal distribution through clone sites that are inaccessible in Korea
• ***manhua has ignored multiple warnings
• Civil lawsuit being prepared in cooperation with legal Chinese platforms