Dramacool Was Targeted by Kocowa as Part of an Ongoing U.S. Lawsuit

Months after Dramacool and several associated streaming sites shut down, many fans are still in mourning. The shutdown was initially shrouded in mystery, but legal paperwork reveals that a U.S. court order, obtained by the owner of legal streaming platform Kocowa, is the likely culprit. The same company hopes to identify the sites' operators, including some copycats, to bring them to justice.

 Fans of Asian drama and anime with a preference for pirate sites were hit hard last November when Dramacool and several associated sites shut down.

The Dramacool team permanently closed its Asianc, Asianwiki, Watchasia, Dramanice and Runasian websites, citing pressure from copyright holders.

These streaming sites catered to a massive audience, as was exemplified by the shutdown message on X, which was viewed more than five million times. And while months have passed since, social media mentions show that many former fans still miss the sites today.

While Dramacool stepped away from offering pirated streams, the site’s X account is still active and thriving, posting regular updates on Korean drama and entertainment. However, this may soon come to an end, as the American-owned streaming platform Kocowa wants it taken offline, and then some.

Kocowa Behind Dramacool’s Troubles

While Dramacool never shared specifics on its legal issues, court records obtained by TorrentFreak show that Wavve Americas Inc. (wA) filed a lawsuit against the unknown operators of various Dramacool domains last October.

As shown below, the targeted domain names include Asianc, Watchasia, Dramanice, and Runasian, all of which offered pirated streams. The affiliated Asianwiki.co information portal, which frequently shared information concerning domain name updates, is listed as a defendant too.

The complaint
 

The complaint is not limited to the official domain names operated by Dramacool. It also includes popular copycat websites such as Dramacool.com.tr and Asianc.sh, naming their registrants in the complaint.

The same applies to Minh Van Ngoc Mym, the developer of the “Dramacool – Kdrama Video Movie” app, which was previously listed in Apple’s iOS store.

Wavve said that it tried to stop the defendants’ infringing conduct by reaching out to domain registrar Namecheap, Apple, and by contacting the websites through publicly listed email addresses, but there were no immediate results.

Restraining Order & Shutdown

Soon after filing the complaint at a federal court in Arizona, Kocowa’s owner requested an ex parte order, requiring all defendants to cease their infringing activity. In response, the court granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) on November 4 last year, except for Asianwiki.

Wavve clarified that Asianwiki was likely linked to the same operators. The site offered information on how to access the streaming sites when domain names were shut down, and occasionally linked to infringing content itself, the company said. This was sufficient for the court to add Asianwiki to a follow-up TRO.

A few days after these orders were granted, Dramacool announced that its websites would shut down permanently. In hindsight, we can assume that the lawsuit filed by Kocowa was the source of the ‘legal pressure’ Dramacool mentioned at the time.

Kocowa+
 

While the restraining order did not require Namecheap to take action, the domain registrar appears to have stepped in. Several domains show the hallmarks of Namecheap suspensions which, again, are likely linked to the same lawsuit.

Social Media Targeted, Identities Sought

With the most popular Dramacool domains offline, Kocowa could already celebrate an early victory. Parent company Wavve Americas, however, is not done yet. Last week, the court granted its request for an injunction.

The injunction prohibits all parties from continuing their infringing activities. In addition to restraining use of domain names, the injunction also applies to various social media channels. Several Telegram channels and a Discord server must be disabled, plus Dramacool’s X account which is currently still online.

In an order dated March 17, 2025, the Arizona court converted the TROs into a preliminary injunction, ensuring that the restrictions remain in place for the duration of the lawsuit. In addition, Wavve is now allowed to serve several of the defendants via email, instead of in person.

Information previously revealed that the defendants may be scattered across Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, the Netherlands, and New Jersey. Since not all physical addresses appear to be complete or legitimate, the court permitted the company to use email instead.

However, the court drew a line for four specific defendants, including the app developer Minh Van Ngoc Mym and the unknown registrants of Dramacool.ba, Dramacool.com.tr, and Dramacool.com.vc. Since Wavve couldn’t show whether these defendants are located inside or outside the U.S., the court ruled that serving them via email wasn’t appropriate without sufficient legal justification.

To allow the case to proceed, the court ordered Wavve to update its complaint to formally name the responsible individuals that were connected to the Dramacool domains though discovery.

While writing this acticle, Wavve served all defendants via email. The company also filed an amended complaint, listing the alleged operators of the websites. This includes a person named “Tommy USA” who is linked to the dramanice.la, runasian.net, watchasia.to, and asianc.sh domains. Kocowa’s parent company requests significant damages from all defendants.

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A copy of the Arizona federal court order, issued by U.S. District Judge Krissa Lanham, is available here (pdf). The amended complaint is available here (pdf).

Source

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