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January 29, 2002
JASRAC
Japanese Society for Rights of
Authors, Composers and Publishers
JASRAC APPLIED FOR A PROVISIONAL INJUNCTION SEEKING TO HALT A MUSIC FILE SWAPPING SERVICE
JASRAC (Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers represented
by Shigeru Yoshida, President) applied for a provisional injunction to the Tokyo
District Court today seeking to halt a file swapping service called "File
Rogue" provided by MMO Japan Ltd. (represented by Michihito Matsuda, President).
The "File Rogue" service allows users to exchange electronic files including
music files such as MP3 files which contain musical works administered by JASRAC
(hereinafter referred to as "REPERTOIRE") on the Internet.
MMO Japan established a Japanese version of the "File Rogue" website
on November 1, 2001, distributed a software which is necessary to use its service
free of charge and is allowing a large number of users who have access to the
"File Rogue" server to send/receive files directly among the users."File
Rogue" is a system, with which many and unspecified users can send/receive
various electronic files anonymously using each other's PCs. Particularly with
regard to MP3 files, more than 70,000 files, which contain sound recordings of
REPERTOIRE from commercial CDs, are constantly available through the service.
Exchange of an MP3 file which is an reproduction of REPERTOIRE through "File
Rogue" service constitutes an infringement of reproduction right and public
transmission right (including a right of making transmittable) provided under
the Copyright Law of Japan. MMO Japan is jointly committing, or causing, aiding
and abetting an infringement act by providing the service for business purposes
in anticipation of the infringement acts by the users of "File Rogue."
In other words, the File Rogue server operated by MMO Japan, together with PCs
of users constitute an automatic public transmission device in this service, and
the said company and its users are jointly making transmittable of REPERTOIRE
and reproducing the REPERTOIRE with users' PCs. JASRAC believes that the liability
for such acts should be confirmed.
Although JASRAC plans to file a suit against this file-swapping service shortly,
it applied for a provisional injunction in order to halt a music file swapping
service immediately and demand preventive measures against copyright infringements
from them, because, if JASRAC leaves such copyright infringement acts as they
are until a court decision is given, it will apparently suffer unrecoverable damages
by continuous mass copyright infringement acts.
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