Kodansha wins lawsuit against illegal publication of its manga website and is awarded 160 million yen

Kodansha, one of Japan's largest manga companies, issued a statement today, November 18, announcing that it had won a previous lawsuit against its website for illegally publishing its manga content and received a total of 160 million yen in compensation.

The illegal website sued by Kodansha is called "Distant Dream Site", which illegally published well-known comics from as many as 8 comic magazines under Kodansha. Kodansha filed the lawsuit in July this year, and the verdict was handed down today.

Kodansha is the full name of "Kodansha Co., Ltd.", formerly known as Dai Nippon Yōbō Kodansha. It was founded by Seiji Noma in Tokyo, Japan in 1909 and is a member of the Otowa Group. It is currently the largest comprehensive publishing house and copyright holder in Japan. It is also one of the major manga publishers in Japan, and is known as the three major manga publishers in the Japanese publishing industry together with Shueisha and Shogakukan.

Before World War II, Kodansha mainly published various popular magazines and books with fun themes, including "King" and "Boyfriend Club". While publishing "The Anthology of Yoshikawa Eiji" and "The Great Japanese Dictionary", Kodansha dominated most of Japan's literary awards. Its "Weekly Shonen Magazine" is one of the three major boys' comics magazines in Japan.