Kakao Entertainment's Illegal Distribution Response Team (P.CoK)
Shuts Down Four Major Global Illegal Webtoon and Web Novel Sites
Southeast Asia's Largest Illegal Webtoon Site 'Mangaku' with 18 Million Monthly Visits
Closed in Seven Days Using Operator Identification Technology
Kakao Entertainment's Illegal Distribution Response Team (P.CoK) announced that it successfully shut down four major global illegal webtoon and web novel distribution sites as a key enforcement achievement in the first quarter of this year.
The most notable achievement was the closure of ‘Mangaku,’ one of Southeast Asia's largest illegal webtoon sites with monthly visits reaching 18 million. This illegal site had been distributing hundreds of K-webtoons for about 17 years since 2008. Enforcement was impossible without identifying the operator, who had consistently ignored numerous warnings and requests from copyright holders.
However, Kakao Entertainment succeeded in identifying the operator using its own technology and directly issued a warning, bringing an end to 17 years of illegal distribution operations within a week. The operator voluntarily closed the site after announcing the cessation of activities on the website and community.
Kakao Entertainment also led the voluntary closure of the English-speaking large illegal webtoon site ‘R,’ which had about 1.2 million monthly visits, and the Brazilian illegal webtoon site ‘Norte Rose Scan,’ which had been operating for over two years with about 340,000 visits, by identifying the operators through its technology. The operator of ‘Norte Rose Scan’ announced the closure reason, stating, “The website was closed due to an email sent by Kakao Entertainment.”
There was also a case of successful site closure by directly requesting a global platform. The English-speaking illegal web novel site ‘Bluebells in Bloom,’ operated as a WordPress blog, was deleted after Kakao Entertainment reported it to WordPress and requested copyright protection measures.
A Kakao Entertainment official stated, “Kakao Entertainment has a response system covering a wide range of channels worldwide, including websites, private communities, and social network services (SNS). So far, the Illegal Distribution Response Team has shut down a total of 25 illegal sites, and the enforcement speed is increasing. Since illegal distribution occurs globally, we plan to actively collaborate with related organizations and investigative agencies to pursue joint legal actions.”
Meanwhile, as Korea’s largest intellectual property (IP) company, Kakao Entertainment has taken a leading role in combating illegal distribution since 2016 to protect the rights of partner creators. In 2021, it established the industry's first Illegal Distribution Response Team and has been conducting systematic enforcement activities.
It monitors webtoons and web novels illegally distributed worldwide and blocks them in real time, while actively responding by identifying illegal distribution channel operators through proprietary technology to shut down sites and take legal action. Additionally, it publishes a biannual ‘Illegal Distribution Response White Paper’ to share know-how and achievements in combating illegal content within the industry. The 6th Illegal Distribution Response White Paper was published last February.
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