Cloudflare has been hit with a ¥500 million (approx. $3.2 million) judgment by the Tokyo District Court. This is a significant escalation in the war on manga piracy, targeting the infrastructure provider rather than just the site operators.
Cloudflare Fined ¥500 Million in Landmark Manga Piracy Ruling
In a move that could reshape how the internet handles copyright infringement, a Japanese court has ordered US tech giant Cloudflare to pay ¥500 million (roughly $3.2 million) in damages to four of Japan’s largest publishing houses.
The lawsuit, initially filed in 2022, saw Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan, and Kadokawa band together to accuse Cloudflare of facilitating copyright infringement. The core of their argument was not that Cloudflare hosted the pirated content directly, but that its Content Delivery Network (CDN) services were essential to the piracy sites’ operation at scale.
According to the publishers, Cloudflare provided server infrastructure for two massive piracy sites that distributed over 4,000 titles – including global juggernauts like One Piece and Attack on Titan – racking up an estimated 300 million views a month.
The “Main Entity” Argument
The legal battle hinged on a specific definition: was Cloudflare the “main entity” responsible for distributing pirated manga?
Judge Aya Takahashi ruled that technically, Cloudflare was not the main entity, acknowledging that the pirate site operators were the ones uploading the illegal files. However, the court found that Cloudflare’s caching services enabled these sites to efficiently distribute massive amounts of data efficiently, reducing server load and masking the true locations of the hosts.
Crucially, Judge Takahashi stated that the infringement was obvious enough that Cloudflare could, and should, have recognised it. The court noted that the publishers had previously requested that Cloudflare stop providing services to specific piracy sites, resulting in a 2019 settlement. Despite this, the publishers argued the US firm continued to provide server support, leading to this new legal action.
Cloudflare has stated the ruling is regrettable and plans to file an appeal.
What This Means for Western Fans
While this ruling happened in Tokyo, the ripples will likely be felt by Western manga readers. Cloudflare is the backbone for a vast portion of the internet, providing speed and protection against DDoS attacks.
If this precedent holds, infrastructure providers may become far more aggressive in dropping sites that host or aggregate scanlations (fan-translated manga) to avoid liability. This could lead to:
- Site Instability: Scanlation sites that lose CDN support often experience slower load times and increased vulnerability to attacks.
- Geo-blocking: Providers might preemptively block access to certain sites from Japanese IP addresses to avoid local lawsuits, though this ruling suggests the liability might extend beyond just local access.
- A Shift to Official Channels: With piracy becoming harder to sustain, publishers are banking on fans moving to legal digital platforms.
If you prefer to support creators directly and avoid the volatility of the grey market, you can pick up digital editions of your favourite series via Kobo or grab physical volumes at Barnes & Noble.
Photo by Miika Laaksonen on Unsplash.
