CHATSWORTH, Calif. - Adult anime labels Critical Mass Video and Adult Source Media (ASM) have created a joint effort to combat illegal downloads of their licensed movies.
During the past several months, the two companies have been working together to identify and take legal action against internet sites and individuals who offer unauthorized downloads and video streams of the two companies’ titles – many of them direct “rips” of the companies’ Region 1 DVDs – without compensating either the respective North American licensors or the Japanese creators.
“Adult Source Media has been targeting websites and affiliates who have been stealing our content for quite some time now,” said ASM president Wendy Crawford. “We have been jointly working with Critical Mass Video to facilitate measures to both shut down these sites and pursue criminal and civil charges against those who run them. As entrepreneurs who both started our companies with self-financing and tremendous sweat equity, [Critical Mass president] Shawne Kleckner and I have to look at things from a broad perspective. This not only hurts our sales. It jeopardizes our ability to license new titles, and in turn, affects the livelihoods of our terrific employees and their families.”
“To add insult to injury, a number of the sites are selling the creative content they have illegally appropriated,” added Kleckner. “The bottom line: when we’re not being paid for our content, the Japanese companies and creative teams aren’t being paid. In turn, it affects whether or not new anime even gets made… and the Japanese licensors are increasingly vocal about their concerns in this area. Sadly, these site owners are forcing us to go beyond issuing ‘cease and desist’ orders. They are placing us in a position where our only option is to hire attorneys and pursue legal remedies to this situation.
“Anime fans are our biggest allies in this fight. When you go to a site, and see ‘free’ and fee-based downloads of anime shows, ask questions. The companies who release those same titles on DVD, like us, can tell you right away who is offering legit downloads and who isn’t.”
For questions about this effort, or to report sites featuring suspect content, e-mail [email protected].
