SINGAPORE: ODEX director Stephen Sing has on Monday written on the firm's web forums saying that it will not take action against those who stop Internet anime downloading "now".

He added that if an Internet user complies then "he will have no possibility of ever receiving any letters from the copyright holders as we will not take anything that he has downloaded before this date against him".

When contacted by the Singapore newspaper The Straits Times, Sing confirmed that he wrote the message, but declined to elaborate pending an official statement.

Since May, Odex, the region's biggest distributor of Japanese animated shows, has sent out letters to several hundred alleged downloaders demanding settlement sums of S$3,000 to S$5,000 (RM6,800 to RM11,300), on threat of legal action.

The Straits Times understands that Odex has already sent letters to alleged anime downloaders using the Internet service provider SingNet. It earlier obtained contact details of these users.

It has obtained a court order to get the names of alleged downloaders from StarHub, but has yet to receive any names.

On Monday, Odex filed an application to appeal a court decision blocking its attempt to obtain the details of Pacific Internet (PacNet) downloaders.

This means that StarHub and PacNet downloaders, even if Odex's appeal succeeded, would be safe from any penalty.

Sing did not say what prompted Odex's change of heart.

Still, the firm has been criticised online over issues such as alleged profiteering. Others fear a successful crackdown on pirated anime would lead to similar crackdowns on other media.

According to an Intellectual Property Office of Singapore study on Singaporeans' attitudes towards intellectual property, only one in five Singaporeans is "bothered" by piracy.

Sing wrote that the firm will now "focus enforcement efforts on those who have continued to download illegally even after the publicity in the press on this issue".

He did not say what would happen to those who already settled with Odex, but noted that these were "heavy or persistent downloaders".

"We will continue to negotiate with those who have not settled the matter yet, or take action if we are instructed to do so by the copyright owners."

Undergraduate Eugene Tang, a StarHub subscriber who used to download anime before news of the crackdown broke, finds Odex's olive branch acceptable.

Given the widespread coverage of this issue, he said "you would have to be living under a rock to still be able to say that you don't know unauthorised downloads are illegal, so I guess it is fair for Odex to prosecute those who continue to download". – The Straits Times, Singapore / Asia News Network

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