The world's largest free adult manga website, widely considered a pirated content business, has been sued by a US distribution company for copyright infringement, with a whopping 79.4 million monthly visits.
Adult comics website nHentai's legal troubles have worsened following a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by PCR Distributing, according to Torrent Freak. PCR has been involved in distributing adult games since 1998; according to the company's recent filing, the company “owns, creates, acquires, translates, and distributes premium hentai art and publications from Asia to the U.S. market” and “specializes in the localization and publication of Japanese visual novels and dating simulation games for the U.K. market.” The company previously filed a subpoena to reveal the identities of nHentai's executives, which the site objected to, believing the company merely acts as a “vehicle” for potentially illegal content, rather than actively hosting illegal material. Because there is precedent for refusing a DMCA subpoena for this reason, the company actually delayed PCR until August 30, when it sued.
PCR has filed a complaint on four counts: “Copyright Infringement,” “Indirect Copyright Infringement,” “Contributory Copyright Infringement,” and “Incitement to Infringement.” PCR is now seeking a jury trial to bring nHentai to justice, claiming that the site cannot be considered a mere intermediary because it does not allow users to submit content. If PCR’s lawsuit is successful, nHentai will be forced to pay damages. PCR is also asking the site’s domain registrar, CloudFlare, to transfer the site to them or to have third parties like Google and other search engines, ISPs, and all other services block the site in the United States. This would mark a major blow to one of the world’s largest websites, with 79.4 million monthly visits. Similarweb added that users visit the site on average 41.62 pages per visit and spend about 11 minutes browsing. nHentai previously sought a private settlement with PCR, but was flatly rejected.
2024 is a crucial year in the fight against Anime, Manga and Webtoon piracy
The copyright infringement lawsuit and summons are part of a tumultuous year in the fight against piracy. In late August, WEBTOON filed a summons request to reveal the identities of the operators of more than 170 pirate sites. These sites collectively have 100 million monthly page views, indicating the extent of the illegality of these sites. Most of the pirated manga originates from Japan and South Korea, which have collaborated on an international campaign to shut down more than 16 pirate sites in Brazil over the past year, which have 100 million monthly views.
While international efforts to combat piracy are at the forefront, Japan saw huge domestic success earlier this year, securing financial penalties from Mangamura—formerly the largest manga piracy site in Japanese history. This was followed by a recent victory from South Korea. The operator of the online novel piracy site Ajitun, South Korea's worst offender in the field, was arrested and had his documents confiscated following a police raid last week.
Source: Torrent Freak
