Tokyo Court Finds Cloudflare Liable for Manga Piracy in Long-Running Lawsuit

3 days ago

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Cloudflare offers a wide range of services, many free, but faces criticism from copyright holders over piracy issues.
In 2018, major manga publishers sued Cloudflare in Tokyo for providing services to pirate sites, leading to a 2019 settlement.
In 2022, publishers filed another lawsuit against Cloudflare in Japan, seeking damages and an injunction over continued service to pirate sites.
The Tokyo District Court ruled Cloudflare liable for aiding copyright infringement, ordering damages of approximately $3.2 million.
The court highlighted Cloudflare's failure to act on infringement notices and lack of identity verification for piracy site operators.
Publishers view the ruling as a step toward proper CDN service use and protecting creators' rights.
Cloudflare plans to appeal, warning the ruling could set a dangerous global precedent for CDN providers.

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