Hit Japanese Manga about Pirates Gets Pirated
Shiver me timbers! A popular Japanese comic about the adventures of a young pirate has been pirated.
Images from the mega-hit manga series “One Piece” have been pilfered for use in a puzzle video game application apparently sold by some scallywags in Hong Kong.
Shueisha Inc., the publisher of “One Piece,” has reportedly asked Apple Inc. to stop selling the game through its online App Store, arguing the application is a gross copyright infringement.
The comic series follows the adventures of young Monkey D. Luffy and his band of pirates known as the Straw Hats as they explore the oceans searching for the ultimate treasure known as the “One Piece”. The manga is hugely popular with total sales of book-form collections recently topping 200 million volumes.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry estimates that the nation’s content industry is worth 14 trillion yen in sales and could grow to 20 trillion yen by 2020, but warns potential profits are being lost amid a “flood of pirated content.”
The difficulties in protecting intellectual property were highlighted by the pirating of the fictional pirate Monkey D. Luffy.
It was Oscar Wilde who noted how life imitates art. Argh!
By Jim Hawe on 08-02-2011
Jim Hawe
