Request for Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer anime leakers' identities approved by United States court

Modified Sep 16, 2024 22:37 GMT

Request for Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer anime leakers' identities approved by United States court (Images via Ufotable, MAPPA Studios)

Monday, September 16, 2024 saw several entertainment companies in the anime industry successfully file an information disclosure for the Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer anime leakers. TOHO, Aniplex, and others successfully did so in a United States court on August 20, 2024, with the order being formally served by courts on August 30.

The companies involved in the order chose to file following unauthorized leaks of videos and still images from the Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer anime series on the X platform (formerly Twitter). Historically, this marks the first time a United States court has issued a discovery order in relation to anime leaks. Significantly, this news follows a massive leak from Netflix and Crunchyroll concerning series like Dandadan, Re:ZERO, and more.

Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer anime leakers set to have identities revealed for legal action purposes

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Those companies involved in the filing regarding the Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer anime leaks are members of Japan’s Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA). Established in 2002, the trade association is involved in the international distribution of Japanese content, and taking action and countermeasures against piracy of such materials. CODA has merged with two other similar organizations in its history to strengthen its reach and power.

CODA likewise assisted in the legal proceedings for the case and also reported that it had received similar requests for other anime series. CODA has already confirmed that it will be working actively alongside those request filers to gather information and seek legal action against similar accounts. Presumably, this would mean many more information disclosure order filings are coming for those X accounts whose owners and users are based in America.

It’s unclear what the next step against these Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer anime leakers is as of this article’s writing, but one can safely presume it will be some sort of legal action. The disclosure of their identities for this purpose all but confirms this, and while some sort of settlement may be reached out of court, a trial is likely to take place in some capacity eventually.

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As mentioned above, this news is especially significant in the wake of a significant number of anime projects being leaked in early August. These leaks affected the Netflix and Crunchyroll platforms and included the new Ranma ½ remake anime, the Dandadan anime, the Mononoke film, the Terminator Zero anime, and other titles both animated and live-action.

Netflix confirmed their leaks as coming from one of their production partners shortly after the leaks’ occurrence. Netflix, Crunchyroll, and entertainment company Iyuno all announced an intent to investigate and remove the leaks from the web. They also confirmed the intent to seek legal action of some sort against the leakers.