Anti Video Piracy Association of Singapore (AVPAS) is an anti-piracy alliance with other anime producers founded by Odex on 30 July 2003. The association lists over 400 titles (as of 25 May 2007) and is supported by at least one governmental agency. AVPAS is not a governmental agency by itself. It aims to monitor and combat the piracy of video related rights, in particular anime and Japanese-related Intellectual Property. The website technically is being maintained by NetroAsia. Its main committee members are Dr. Toh See Kiat (AVPAS president), Go Wei Ho Peter (AVPAS vice president and Odex director), Sing Xin Yang (AVPAS secretary and Odex director) and Yong Yet Yuen (AVPAS Secretary).[1]
The organisation, along with Odex gained considerable prominence in mid-2007 due to Odex's legal actions against Internet users in Singapore, which were ultimately rejected by the Court in January 2008.
Contents |
Up to date, the AVPAS has only been known to have created a website which prominently features the Odex Clarification Article on their homepage, has pictures of pirated anime and Japanese video CDs and contains a list of so-called authorised titles.
According to the Odex Clarification Article, the AVPAS has also been said to have authorised Odex to carry out rampant demands of money from anime downloaders.[2] However, the AVPAS has not publicly announced its so-called authorisation and has not commented on whether this claim by Odex is true or false.
The title "AVPAS" may mislead people into believing that AVPAS is a government organization or an organization registered with the Registry of Societies (ROS). The AVPAS is also not a commercial entity by itself (not registered with ACRA) but is registered by NETROASIA PTE LTD, the "technical admin" for ODEX.
Netizens virtually unanimously agree that they did not even know about the existence of AVPAS before the Odex Saga.
The domain name for the AVPAS website was conveniently registered in April 2007 just three months right before Odex started the saga in July to September 2007.
With regards to its sudden prominence in mid-2007, which coincided with Odex's rise to notoriety among Netizens, there have been concerns raised regarding the legitimacy and purpose of AVPAS, especially since its main committee is dominated by the Odex directors.[3] The AVPAS website appears to have ceased from being updated since 31 August 2007, which is coincidentally the beginning of the period when the Odex Saga started to blow over in mainstream media.
Despite being self-dubbed the Anti Video Piracy Association of Singapore, the AVPAS does not seem to be interested in monitoring or combating the piracy of non-anime or non-Japanese films as the only titles listed or displayed on its website are either anime or Japanese video titles. No publicly-known action has been taken by the AVPAS against pirates dabbling in non-anime and non-Japanese videos. The AVPAS has not issued any explanations regarding its preferential treatment for certain groups of video pirates.