It is very interesting that there are two different ways leading to the almost same results. I wonder which approach makes it successful in their business. What do you think?
Tokyo-based e-commerce related service provider Enigmo launched a new service last Wednesday, which is named Corseka[J] and allows users to browse and read their favorite paper-printed magazines on the web. By paying listed retail prices of the magazines that a user would like to browse on the web, he/she can obtain reproduced digital content of them at anytime. Enigmo had no prior consultation with the publishers holding copyrights of the magazines before launching the service, because the same amount of magazines that the users have ordered are physically purchased by the company instead of the users, reproduced content can be browsed only by the users who have paid for, and that will not violate the publisher’s rights but contribute to the publisher’s revenue growth.
But JMPA (Japan Magazine Publishers Association)[J] complained about the service and asked for shutting it down. The company had the first talk with the association on Friday, and the service is now temporarily and partially interrupted for further consideration on the company’s legal perspective.
Meanwhile, one of Japan’s largest printing companies, Toppan Printing started Magabank, a digital reproduction service of paper-printed magazine titles on Oct. 1st. Based on a publisher’s request, Toppan will reproduce a magazine in digital form, promote it and sell it on the web. The publisher has to pay no cost for these reproduction and sales processes, and it and Toppan will share the revenue earned from the sales. Toppan expects to partner with thirty magazine publishers by the end of FY2009, and to earn USD 11.6M in sales by the end of FY2010.
See Also:
- Enigmo’s Press Release: The company’s response for JMPA’s protest against Corseka[J]
- Toppan Printing’s News Release: The company to launch MAGABANK, a digital reproduction service of paper-printed magazine titles[J]
Masaru IKEDA