A High Court Judge has ordered Pacific Internet (Pacnet), a local Network Service Provider (NSP), to furnish Japanese Anime copyright owners with the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of Pacnet subscribers who had illegally downloaded Anime titles.
Odex Pte Ltd (Odex) is a Singapore-incorporated company that is licensed to distribute various Japanese Anime titles in Singapore. Anime generally refers to a distinct type of cartoon animation originating from Japan.
Odex filed court orders last year against Singapore ISPs to release the IP addresses of subscribers who were downloading Anime titles illegally. However, it was unsuccessful in obtaining the IP addresses as it was determined that Odex was not an exclusive licensee. Odex subsequently appealed with the Japanese Anime copyright owners joining as parties to the application.
The High Court Judge ruled that Odex was not the right party to make the court application. However, Pacnet would instead have to turn over the relevant information to the Japanese Anime copyright owners.