In a shocking turn of events, two French nationals arrested in Japan on suspicion of leaking content from popular manga magazines, Shonen Jump and Weekly Shonen Magazine, have reportedly confessed to the charges laid against them. According to the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, the defendants admitted their involvement in the unlawful dissemination of copyrighted material.
The prosecution revealed that one of the accused, known as DBS Hype, allegedly solicited leaks from one of the defendants in exchange for promoting the company Japan Deal World LLC. This revelation emerged during the first hearing of Japan Deal World and its executives at the Kumamoto District Court. Both defendants acknowledged the veracity of the charges, affirming, “Everything is correct.”
The two French nationals, serving as the president and an employee of the Tokyo-based company, are accused of repeatedly infringing copyright laws by photographing and saving copyrighted material with their smartphones without authorization. The manga series implicated in the case include popular titles such as “ONE PIECE,” “Jujutsu Kaisen,” and “Blue Lock,” published in Shueisha’s “Weekly Shonen Jump” and Kodansha’s “Weekly Shonen Magazine,” respectively.
The prosecution highlighted that DBS HYPE, operating under a pseudonym on social media, allegedly enticed the company’s president to provide unreleased manga images in exchange for promotional activities. Despite being aware that the images were being disseminated online, the defendant continued to supply them, leading to the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content. However, the prosecution refrained from pursuing charges related to the violation of the right to transmit to the public for publishing the images online.
