Whose interests is Avpas really serving?

Sep 12, 2007

Whose interests is Avpas really serving?

THE Anti-Video Piracy Association of Singapore (Avpas) is a non-government group which claims that it was formed to protect the interests of the Singaporean video industry and to educate the public on the benefits of buying original video products.

However, is this truly the case?

According to the Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC), a government body, the Avpas website was created on April 21, shortly before Odex started issuing letters threatening legal action and demanding money from downloaders.

Consequently, during the Odex saga, Odex claimed to have received authorisation from Avpas in carrying out its demands for compensation. Is this merely a coincidence or is there more than meets the eye?

I believe that most Singaporeans, like me, have never known of the existence of Avpas prior to the Odex fiasco. It seemed to have been dormant since its creation and only appeared when Odex needed it to help justify their actions in demanding money.

Second, Avpas claims to represent the whole Singaporean video industry. If Avpas was really so, it should comprise mainly the major video industry players, such as MediaCorp, Poh Kim and Golden Village.

However, the facts show the exact opposite. The main Avpas committee is dominated by directors Peter Go and Steven Sing and staff from Odex, a small anime distributor. Even the Avpas office resides in Odex's office.

Moreover, the 'licensors' and 'associate members' in Avpas are all Japanese firms. The list of 'authorised titles' on the Avpas website also only consists of Japanese anime titles; and many, if not most, of those titles are not even sold in Singapore. Even links found on the Avpas page only lead to the websites of Odex and Japanese anime firms.

Why is Avpas only targeting anime and not other types of video, such as movies and TV dramas? Is anime the only type of video in Singapore?

Chen Liang

ODEX caught with pants down.

Subtitles must be done accurately: Censors
Letter form Tan Lee Cheng, Senior Asst Director (Film Standards), Board of Film Censors

We refer to the article "Japanese anime firms close ranks with Odex" (Aug 31).

Mr Peter Go, managing director of Odex, is said to have commented that the subtitles of some of his anime series had to be tweaked to conform to the Board of Film Censors' (BFC) requirements.

This statement is not correct and the BFC would like to take this opportunity to clarify its position.

Subtitles are usually provided by distributors to reach out to a wider audience or to translate content that may be in a foreign language (example, Japanese anime). There are occasions when the quality of translation may be the cause of poor subtitling. This has nothing to do with the classification process but it is still worthwhile for distributors to address as consumers would expect to have accurate translation of purchased works.

It is also the distributor's responsibility to ensure that subtitles reflect the true content of an anime (that is, animation) especially its dialogue and commentary. If subtitles are not accurate, they can mislead the viewer and also make it difficult for the BFC to classify an anime accurately.

The BFC has never asked for subtitles to be tweaked. We require that subtitles accurately reflect the content of a film or video so that we can classify the content accurately. Inaccurate subtitles also do no service to the community or to the young who may be misled into thinking that an anime is suitable for them when it could be meant for a higher age group.

As the ratings for videos (including anime) range from G to M18, there is sufficient leeway to allow for the subtitling of mature content without subtitles having to be tweaked.

We urge all distributors to translate and subtitle their content accurately so that they can provide an informative service to viewers.

Japanese, Korean anime are booming, not ailing

Sep 4, 2007

Japanese, Korean anime are booming, not ailing

I WRITE to correct the claims made by Odex director Peter Go in the article, 'StarHub must give names of illegal anime downloaders' (ST, Aug 14).

Quoting from the article: 'Mr Go said the South Korean anime market, once the largest after Japan, collapsed several years ago due to piracy problems. This prompted Japanese studios making anime to band together to mount the crackdown here as they were worried Singapore, although not as big a market, would end up the same way.' And 'illegal downloads, available online since the late 1990s, have cut deeply into the profits of producers and distributors'.

However, this is false.

According to the December 2006 issue of Reason magazine (twice named one of the United States' 50 Best Magazines by the Chicago Tribune): 'The global sales of Japan's animation industry reached an astonishing $80 billion in 2004, 10 times what they were a decade before. It has won this worldwide success in part because Japanese media companies paid little attention to the kinds of grassroots activities - call it piracy, unauthorised duplication and circulation, or simply file-sharing.'

These activities, claimed by Odex to be illegal and piracy, are widely known as 'fansubbing', or the distribution of Japanese anime with amateur translation and subtitling by fans. They have proven to be a free and far-reaching source of promotion by exposing people to anime, which would have been costly and risky if done by commercial distributors.

A great example is The Melancholy Of Suzumiya Haruhi, which shot to worldwide popularity due to fansubs. It is reasonable to say that fansubs have contributed to the continuous and massive growth of the Japanese animation industry.

The Korean animation industry is also very much alive. According to recent articles this year by PRZoom and ee-

ProductCenter, the 'South Korean animation industry is the third largest behind the US and Japan' and 'it accounts for 30 per cent of the total output in the global animation market'. The sheer size of the Korean animation industry shows it is far from collapse.

Chen Liang

ODEX: Poor subtitles because of censorship laws

Poor subtitles because of censorship laws
By Liew Hanqing

September 01, 2007

THE subtitles were tweaked because of Singapore's censorship laws.
Click to see larger image

That's one of the reasons why subtitles on some of its anime series are not accurate, said managing director Peter Go of local anime distributor Odex.

Anime fans have long criticised Odex's products saying they are inaccurately subtitled.

He was speaking at a press conference to announce the support of the Japanese copyright owners in its appeal against its case against Pacific Internet.

It has successfully obtained court orders to force SingNet and StarHub to reveal alleged illegal downloaders' identities, but its case against Pacific Internet was thrown out of court.

The company, which began a widespread crackdown on illegal anime downloading in May, has got flak from netizens for the quality of its anime subtitling.

Netizens have posted screen captures of illegal anime fansubs (fan-subtitled anime), comparing their subtitles to those on Odex's 'inaccurately subtitled' anime releases.

But why the discrepancy?

Mr Go said the subtitles of certain anime series had to be tweaked to conform with the Board of Film Censors' requirements.

He cited the example of popular anime series Fruits Basket, which contained content deemed too risque.

'We need to abide by the board's regulations - the series cannot have certain religious connotations, be too violent or touch on issues like homosexuality,' he said.

So Odex had no choice but to tweak the themes slightly.

In an earlier interview with The New Paper, Mr Go said that in response to the escalating popularity of fansubs relative to Odex products, the company decided to hire fansubbers (or fans who subtitle illegal copies of anime) to do subtitling work for their products.

But that backfired after fansubbers turned in sub-standard work, with inaccurate translations and grammatical errors.

At a press conference yesterday, Mr Go and Odex director Stephen Sing stood by the quality of their DVDs, which they say local anime focus groups have trouble distinguishing from the same titles released in Japan.

The main reason for its loss of more than 60 per cent of its sales since 2005, it says, is rampant illegal downloading here.

According to data collected by BayTSP, the US company hired by Odex to identify the IP addresses of illegal anime downloaders, Singapore has the highest per capita rate - one in 10 - of illegal anime downloading in the world.

Odex has used this data in its ongoing attempt to get local ISPs to reveal the identities of those identified by BayTSP as illegal downloaders.

Yesterday, Japanese copyright owners, including Media International Corporation, Toei Animation Enterprises Ltd and TV Tokyo Medianet Co Ltd gave Odex letters of authorisation, granting it permission to act on their behalf against illegal downloaders.

Representatives of the Japanese companies said they were prepared to act individually in support of Odex's appeal if the court required them to do so.

Said Mr Yukio Kawasaki, manager of the content business division of TV Tokyo Corporation: 'The best way to solve the problem (of illegal downloading) is through our licensees in each country.

'This is because the licensees can take action quickly. In this case, Odex is a very important partner to us.'

Odex affiliate raided for counterfeiting 8 years ago

Odex affiliate raided for counterfeiting 8 years ago

A ONE-TIME firm started by the men behind Odex, the company at the centre of a crackdown on illegal downloading of anime, was itself raided by police for copyright infringement.

The firm - Games Mart - was set up by Odex director Peter Go in 1994 to sell video game consoles, games and accessories.

An Odex spokeman said it was raided in 1999 by the police for peddling counterfeit game controllers and other accessories.

The spokesman said that Games Mart was shut down in 2004.