The Challenge of Digital Webtoon Artists in the case of Malaysia: The Trend of Freeloaders Exploiting Comics in the Internet Platform

Abstract

This article discussed the findings of Plagiarism (piracy) or in malay word for (ciplak) of transmedia works, especially webcomic and animation, has long been an issue and still occurs today in Malaysia. The primary purpose of this article is to investigate rampant webcomic plagiarism in Malaysia. This article discusses the feedback from respondents who are majorly comic readers, on their insight whether the responses agreed to the actions taken if plagiarism appears upon uploading illegal comics online. Based on the findings, major respondents’ feedback found that they are aware of the importance of IP in a platform for reading comics. However, respondents said that they would not take action if they knew that the comics they were reading comics were plagiarized. The findings prove to the researcher that most readers do not care about the importance and wrongdoing of digital comic plagiarism. Researchers can also embrace that comic readers only want self-satisfaction to read comics without caring if the comics they read are plagiarized comics largely comic readers and social media users do not condone plagiarism activities against digital comics, in fact there is a group of them who encourage and support such activities. In conclusion, the webtoon industry seen a large growth in both content economy and supporting businesses. However due to the lack of enforcement, educational awareness, these should also be a basic investment for the well-being of the webcomic industries.