"Manga Conquers America"

Wired Magazine's November issue featured an article explaining what manga is and how this iconic piece of japanese culture has made its was to the United States. Manga is the commonly mentioned case study of a type of art with a huge commercial market that thrives on copyright infringement. Not only do those who infringe make money, but those who are infringed upon also benefit from the the copyright infringement. According to this article, 22% of all published material in Japan is manga. Manga is a $4.2 billion industry in Japan alone.



According to Lessig the reason why Manga has succeeded in Japan is because of the distinction between a "read only culture" and a "read/write culture". IP laws were structured for a "read only culture" which is mostly obsolete in countries around the globe as a result of the Internet and digital technology. Essentially, the current copyright regime that is structured for a "read only culture" is inadequate in the United States. Interestingly, the Japanese have a comparable copyright system to that of the United States, but in the case of manga, publishers don't try to prevent the copyright infringement of manga because it recognizes the commercial and social benefits from the lack of regulation.

"Celebrating Two Decades of Unlawful Progress: Fan Distribution, Proselytization Commons, and the Explosive Growth of Japanese Animation"

"Celebrating Two Decades of Unlawful Progress: Fan Distribution, Proselytization Commons, and the Explosive Growth of Japanese Animation"
Sean Leondard

This is a useful article for anyone who wants to understand the history and characteristics of the Manga and (XXXXX = oficial copying of Manga) market in Japan. This industry is an example of how, over a period of at least two decades, infringement of copyright fueled the commerce (business) and knowledge of that type of art. This account provides a comparison of Japanese and American copyright law which concludes that both legal systems are analygous. The purpose of this article to to provide a counter argument for those infavor of copyright in the United States on the basis that copyright infringement hurts the commercial health of creative industries who revenues are based upon exploiting intellectual property rights.