The Japanese publishing industry has won a major victory against digital piracy. The Tokyo District Court ruled that Cloudflare must pay damages after allowing severalpirated manga to remain active. The lawsuit was filed by Shueisha, Kodansha, Shogakukan, and Kadokawa, four of Japan's largest publishers.
According to the ruling, the total damages exceed 3.6 billion yen. However, the companies only requested a portion of this amount, and the court determined that Cloudflare must pay approximately 500 million yen—about US$3.3 million. The platform failed to verify the identity of the operators of these websites, allowing for quick and anonymous registrations. As a result, thousands of chapters of popular manga continued to circulate illegally.
Reports from Asahi Shimbun and Kyodo already showed that Cloudflare maintained support for websites totaling more than 4,000 titles, and received over 300 million monthly visits. Works such as One Piece, Attack on Titan , and Kingdom were among the most affected.
The decision reinforces global pressure against services that facilitate piracy while strengthening protections for creators. Ultimately, the case could set a precedent for further action in the sector.
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Source: X (official Twitter account)
