Report: Pirated manga websites cause 55 billion dollars in losses
A Japanese watchdog for unauthorized e-books has reported that pirated websites carrying Japanese publications, mainly manga comics, cause losses estimated at about 55 billion dollars per year.
General Incorporated Association ABJ consists of interested bodies, such as publishing companies and telecom operators. It monitored the number of visits and time spent in June on more than 900 websites posting materials without authorization.
Researchers at ABJ estimated that users of such sites can read a manga that would otherwise cost 500 yen, or about 3.20 dollars, in 30 minutes, and using this benchmark projected annual losses at about 8.5 trillion yen, or roughly 55 billion dollars.
They say the websites were accessed from all over the world, including Indonesia, Japan, and the United States.
ABJ said it conducted similar studies in the past, but only on the 10 most used websites. It added that its largest ever survey has revealed increasing losses across borders in the face of the growing popularity of Japanese manga among a wide range of generations in Asia, Western countries and beyond.
Ito Atsushi, an ABJ official in charge of public relations, said he hopes to see more operators of pirated websites face criminal charges. He added that efforts are also necessary to expand distribution of authorized versions of such content.
