ODEX

There's a recent buzz on the internet of ODEX against the local anime downloaders. I'm surprised to hear of a judge ruling against ODEX demands of Pacific Internet to release 1000 names of its subscribers that download anime. Quoting from CNA,

In a surprise court ruling on Thursday, a judge decided that Pacific Internet (PacNet) does not have to give up the names of its subscribers who had been accused of ripping content from Odex. ...

The ruling raised eyebrows because two other Internet service providers (ISP) - SingNet and StarHub - had earlier been ordered to give up the names of their subscribers accused of similar violations. StarHub said the company is now assessing its options. (link)

Wow! Now who says the authorities are pro business. Hurray!! For Pacific Internet for fighting for its subscribers. Shame on the other two incumbents especially SingTel. According to news report, they didn't even resist, simply blindly comply. I guess out of this episode you wouldn't find much support for ODEX, maybe more would order animes from other online stores. After all there has been lots of complains on how slow they are at bringing in new anime and even their sub-titling is of sub standard quality. A shame compared to the high standards the fan-subs do for free. The other bad publicity are the other two ISPs. Especially SingTel. Quick to surrender without a fight. Starhub, well they did try and perhaps the Pacific Internet's team of lawyers learnt from the outcome. But StarHub can still shine, they are still weighing their options as of now.

Odex said that the settlements it is seeking are not for damages, but reimbursement of expenses incurred in pursuing enforcement matters. (link)

Well, shouldn't some of the reimbursement be given to the rightful owners?

Too bad, in the end. This whole exercise, aside from trying to make some profit re-cuperate expenses and scare all downloaders has some what failed. For more detail information, check out this thread on Hardware Forum.