TOKYO: A Tokyo court has ordered US internet infrastructure firm Cloudflare to pay $3.2 million to major Japanese publishers for hosting servers used by manga piracy sites.
The Tokyo District Court ruled on Wednesday that Cloudflare must pay 500 million yen to Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan and Kadokawa.
Four major publishing firms accused Cloudflare of copyright infringement for hosting sites distributing pirated manga titles.
The companies filed their lawsuit in Tokyo in 2022 after previously reaching a settlement with Cloudflare in 2019.
The publishers called the court decision “significant” in a joint statement.
Cloudflare provided servers for “two massive manga piracy sites that distribute over 4,000 manga titles without permission and rack up 300 million views a month”, the publishers said.
Piracy has long tormented publishers of popular manga series including “One Piece” and “Attack on Titan”.
Industry losses are estimated at millions of dollars in Japan alone from sites distributing graphic novels for free.
The publishers said Cloudflare continued providing services to piracy sites despite their 2019 settlement.
According to Japanese media, Cloudflare plans to appeal the court ruling.
