Via Anime News Network, Funimation has recently sued 1,337 Bittorrent users for illegally stealing episode 481 of One Piece. Whether this is a reaction to the recent Fractale debacle is unclear, but the events seem too closely related for Funimation's legal action to be coincidental. The suit requires the defendants,

"shall destroy all copies of Plaintiff's [videos] that Defendant has downloaded onto any computer hard drive or server without Plaintiff's authorization and shall destroy all copies of those downloaded [videos] transferred onto any physical medium or device in each Defendant's possession, custody, or control."

One Piece is one of the most widely available anime with free streaming on multiple websites as well as unedited versions available on DVD. Few of the arguments used by pirates to justify their actions pertain to this show, and it will be little wonder if no fansub organizations or fellow pirates defend the individuals being sued. The names of the defendants will eventually be made public which will most likely prove to be a scare tactic against those in similar demographics.

It is, however, possible that the suit will aggravate some of the more militant fansub groups and heighten their flippant attitude towards North American anime licensers. Whether or not the suit will indeed provoke them remains to be seen, but Funimations action is no doubt a far more direct measure than most licensers usually take.