News
Man Arrested For Selling Bootleg Copy of Dragon Ball Manga's Debut Issue
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Ishikawa Prefectural Police revealed on Wednesday that they arrested a 50-year-old male resident of Tokyo's Sumida Ward for allegedly selling a bootleg copy of the 1984 issue 51 of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, the debut issue of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball manga. The suspect supposedly stated after his arrest that he "sold the copy with the knowledge that it was genuine."
Police accused the suspect of allegedly producing and selling the copy in early April, stating he knowingly committed a violation of Japan's Copyright Act. The specific issue he copied is deemed rare and sells for expensive amounts online, due in part to being the debut issue of Dragon Ball. He allegedly sold the bootleg copy for 180,000 yen (about US$1,230) to a 30-year-old man in Ishikawa Prefecture. But the person who received the bootleg copy apparently also possessed a genuine copy of the same issue, and upon comparison and finding the bootleg copy's differing paper quality and glue binding, contacted the police regarding the issue.
The official website of Weekly Shonen Jump also posted a warning about pirated or bootleg copies of old issues, showing that issues of the magazine were staple-bound (seen right) until the 10th issue of 1994 on February 21, 1994.
Sources: Asahi Shimbun (川辺真改), Weekly Shonen Jump's website
