A 29-year-old man is sentenced to three years in prison for operating an illegal manga website that allowed people to read pirated copies of popular comics such as "One Piece.
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The former operator of Mangamura, a now-defunct site blamed for causing billions of dollars in losses to the Japanese manga industry, has been sentenced in Japan. Romi Hoshino, 29, was sentenced by the Fukuoka District Court to three years in prison and fines in excess of US$650,000.
After being founded in 2016, pirate site Mangamura was said to have caused huge damage to the local manga industry.
According to Japan-based anti-piracy group CODA, in just two years Mangamura caused around $2.91 billion in losses but in April 2018 the show came to an abrupt end.
Just days after the government in Japan announced emergency websites blocking measures against several sites, including Mangamura, the download platform shut itself down. At the time the move appeared to be voluntary but serious developments were taking place behind the scenes.
The manga industry has been plagued by piracy for years now, and publishers have gathered to combat the phenomenon in recent years. Big companies like Shueisha and Kodansha have pooled resources with a good few publishers to hold pirates responsible for their seedy decisions. And now, one of the [.]