HANOI -- Vietnam, a hotbed of content piracy, has intensified efforts to combat intellectual property violations with its first copyright infringement case involving Japanese media.

Hanoi police said in August they had begun criminal proceedings against three people accused of operating piracy website and app Phim Ne. Authorities allege the suspects obtained 415 million dong ($16,000) in illicit profits in a year. The case is part of a crackdown on piracy launched by Vietnam's government in early May.

"It's a landmark event," said Takero Goto, representative director of Japan's Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), which cooperated with the investigation. "We'll call for further measures." Around 1,000 illegal websites worldwide distribute Japanese manga and other content without authorization, many of which are run by residents of Vietnam, Japanese anti-piracy group ABJ reports. Some are thought to get hundreds of millions of hits monthly, earning substantial revenue from advertising.

Washington is applying pressure on Hanoi as well. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in April named Vietnam a "priority foreign country" regarding concerns about intellectual property protections -- the only one to receive the designation for the most problematic countries this year.

Hanoi could face tariffs if the situation does not improve, a potentially painful blow for a country that depends on trade with the U.S.

Content distribution in Vietnam has struggled to keep up with pirated versions. The Japanese series "Doraemon" was initially distributed without authorization in the 1990s by state-owned Kim Dong Publishing House before it signed an official contract with Japanese publisher Shogakukan.

Promoting cultural industries and the creative economy is a priority for Hanoi, and combating copyright infringement is crucial to strengthen the market's credibility and transparency, said Pham Thi Kim Oanh, deputy director of the But investigators remain slow to act. Even when informed about illegal sites, "they retort that there's not a good enough basis for calculating damages," said Takuto Kudo, director of CODA's Vietnam center. Kudo thinks Vietnam is reluctant to spend public funds on protecting foreign rights holders.

China, where intellectual property violations once were rampant, has clamped down in recent years -- a change thought to result partly from its growing status as a holder of copyrights. Japan hopes to see a similar shift in Vietnam.

Content is among the 17 strategic areas that Japan's government has designated for focused investment. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged Vietnamese counterpart Le Minh Hung to do more to fight piracy when she visited the country in May.

Japan's entertainment industry strategy released in August targets 20 trillion yen ($126 billion) in overseas sales in 2033, roughly triple the 2024 figure. It calls for a total of 34 trillion yen in public- and private-sector investment, estimating the economic impact at 326 trillion yen.

Combating piracy is a key part of this plan. Global losses from piracy, including merchandise, have been estimated to exceed 10 trillion yen.

"It's important to create an environment where creators are compensated for the value of the content into which they invested effort and money," said Naohiro Kaji, director of the culture and creative industries division of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.