DMCA Subpoenas Can't Be Used for Foreign Piracy Lawsuits, Court Rules
3 months ago
- #legal
- #copyright
- #piracy
- Mangajikan, a major piracy site with 185 million monthly visitors, was targeted by Shueisha via a DMCA subpoena.
- Shueisha sought to uncover the operator's identity through Cloudflare, leading to the voluntary takedown of Mangajikan and Alammanga.
- A dispute arose over whether Shueisha could use the operator's identity for lawsuits outside the U.S., which the court ruled against.
- The court emphasized that the DMCA subpoena's scope is limited to U.S. copyright enforcement, not foreign litigation.
- Shueisha's argument to bypass protective order restrictions by filing a U.S. lawsuit was rejected as an impermissible bait-and-switch.
- The pirate site operator's privacy protections were mostly denied, though sensitive personal data remains protected.
- Shueisha can share the operator's identity with its Japan team for U.S. enforcement but not for foreign lawsuits.
- Cloudflare must now disclose the operator's identity, and Shueisha must decide on U.S. legal action or destroy the data if unused.