The first trial of the two manga leakers who were arrested on suspicion of copyright infringement was held at the Kumamoto District Court (presided by Judge Mikito Nakata) on May 27, 2024.
During the trial it was revealed that a popular account on SNS – DBS Hype – had demanded the Tokyo based company, Japan Deal World, into sending them the leaks from popular manga titles in exchange for promoting their company.
The prosecution stated that DBS HYPE, whose real identity remains unknown, contacted the manager on social media and made the illicit proposal.
The manager then ordered the employee to photograph the unreleased manga at the company’s office, which were then sent to DBS HYPE. This occurred on three occasions between Jan 26th and 31st, 2024.
The copyrighted works in question include One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump, and Blue Lock serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine.
The manager of Japan Deal World, Musa Samir and his 34-year-old employee, both have confessed to the charges against them.
Following the initial reports, DBS HYPE’s social media accounts were reportedly deleted or deactivated. However, the extent of DBS HYPE’s involvement in the ‘early spoilers’ case and whether they demanded similar leaks from other sources remains unclear.
Popular leakers including Scanpeia and OPScans have shut down their SNS site and websites respectively after reports of the arrests came out in February this year.
While the manager and employee face charges for copyright infringement, DBS HYPE has not been charged in this case, despite instigating the leaks.
Prosecutors have stated they did not pursue charges related to the public sharing of the leaked images online ,even though they were charged with it initially.
The manager and the employee, both French nationals, were arrested on Feb 4, 2024.
The Kumamoto Police revealed that Samir’s company is involved in dealing with Jump and related goods and that they obtained the copy of Jump before its release to sell at their own company.
In some cases, the images they scanned were modified to make them appear as if they were not scanned from a paper magazine, but the publishers have confirmed that no electronic data was leaked from the publishers.
According to the cops, the images they leaked were translated to multiple foreign languages including English and reposted on various sites.
Source: Yomiuri Shimbun