'LULLED into 'complacency' by its earlier victories and confused by the 'minefield of copyright law', anime distributor Odex did not realise it was the wrong party to ask the courts for the names of alleged infringers from their Internet service provider, said the judge who dismissed its appeal in his written judgement released on Tuesday.
However, Justice Woo Bih Li had earlier ruled that Odex's level of proof, which had been brought into question, was sufficient to show copyright infringement.

And since the actual rights owners - who should had been the ones asking for such information - had subsequently joined its action to obtain the identities of these infringers, he ordered PacNet to cough up the names of the alleged downloaders in the 'interest of justice'.

Last May, Odex, which distributes the animated Japanese cartoons, incurred the wrath of the Singapore online community when it began sending letters to anime downloaders demanding payment of between $3,000 and $5,000.

The sums, it said, was to settle their alleged infringing activities in lieu of further action. Several hundred have done so.

Odex successfully got court orders to obtain the names of alleged downloaders from SingNet and StarHub, but its attempt to get the identities of PacNet downloaders was dismissed by District Judge Erneest Lau, who said Odex was the wrong party to ask for such information and that it did not have good enough proof.

Odex appealed, and in January Justice Woo ruled that PacNet would give the names to the Japanese rights owners, but not Odex.