Viz Media issued a statement on Thursday regarding the recent arrests of men uploading manga to English-language websites from Japan.

On Friday, November 13th, four men in Japan were arrested by the Kyoto Prefectural Police on suspicion of illegally taking, digitizing and distributing manga content originally published in the Japanese edition of Weekly Shonen Jump . Weekly Shonen Jump is the world's most-read weekly manga anthology and is published in Japan by Viz Media 's parent company, Shueisha, Inc . It is alleged that this content was illegally distributed internationally through the online scanlation site MangaPanda. The site is also alleged to be the supplier to additional perpetrators possibly involved in the cross-border violation of intellectual property rights and copyright law. Digital piracy is a crime that steals what others have worked so hard to create. Viz Media actively supports manga creators and manga fan culture, and is committed to making the highest possible quality content available to a global audience through licensed channels.

Three Chinese men were arrested last week for uploading a chapter of Eiichiro Oda 's One Piece manga to an English-language website without authorization. The police also arrested the Japanese delivery man who had delivered books.