LOCAL anime distributor Odex has once again caused a stir in the online community - this time, internationally and unintentionally.

Netizens in Japan, France and the US were taken by surprise when they received notices from their Internet service providers (ISPs), telling them to remove illegally downloaded material from their hard disks.

They were also asked to send a statement of compliance to Odex with their full names and contact information.

But BayTSP, the US security company hired by Odex to track errant downloaders, has acknowledged that the notices it sent to foreign ISPs were a mistake.

In a joint reply from BayTSP and Oxex, BayTSP spokesman Jim Graham told The New Paper that the company inadvertently sent takedown notices to individuals living outside Singapore.

He said: 'Odex had only asked for enforcement in Singapore.

'Moving forward, notices relating to Odex-licensed and authorised content will only be sent to Singapore ISPs whose subscribers are identified as downloading this content illegally.'

FURORE

Odex caused a furore with its recent crackdown on illegal downloaders, most of them teenagers.

Those who admitted to downloading Odex-licensed anime paid the company between $3,000 and $5,000 in compensation for its enforcement expenses.

One anime fan, who recently moved to Tokyo from the US, told The New Paper he was shocked when he received a takedown notice from his ISP on Monday.

He had downloaded a fan-subtitled anime episode he had watched earlier on TV, to see if he had missed any important dialogue.

Said the fan, who asked to be identified only by his online nickname, Quarkboy: 'My Japanese isn't fluent - I just moved to Japan two months ago.'

He said he was surprised when he received the notice because he did not think Japanese companies would let a company from Singapore do the policing for them.

He added that he felt it was fine for the original copyright-holders (in Japan) to enforce their copyright internationally.

Mr Graham said BayTSP started sending out the erroneous takedown notices last Thursday.

The notices were sent to ISPs who had customers identified as downloading anime content illegally.

Customers of overseas ISPs including Club Internet in France, Comcast in the US and Usen in Japan received takedown notices for downloading unlicensed anime episodes using Bittorrent, a peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

Some of the anime titles which were downloaded include Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Ouran High School Host Club and Nagasarete Airantou, which are licensed to Odex in Singapore.

BACKLASH

Since the notices were sent last week, anime fans lashed out online because they thought Odex was trying to take its copyright enforcement activities overseas as well.

Popular anime blogs like Otakutimes, Bikasuishin.org and TheOtaku.com carried posts on the international takedown notices.

Netizens also posted threads on forums like Animesuki and Adult Swim criticising Odex for over-stepping its boundaries by attempting to police overseas downloaders.

Mr Graham said BayTSP was taking steps to 'resolve the mistake'.

He added, however, that Odex's copyright enforcement activities in Singapore are still ongoing.