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November 13, 2009
JASRAC
Japanese Society for Rights of Authors,
Composers and Publishers (JASRAC)
Copyright infringement on a Video Posting (Sharing) site
Tokyo District Court acknowledges JASRAC's claims for an injunction and
damages against a video posting (sharing) website operator
Today (November 13th), Tokyo District Court ordered JUST ONLINE Co., Ltd. (company's headquarters located in Tokyo), the operator of a video posting website ("TV BREAK": http://www.tvbreak.jp) to halt the transmission of video files containing JASRAC repertoire. The Court also ordered the company and its CEO, Yoshihide Imasaki, to jointly pay 90 million yen in compensation for the damages on copyright infringement.
On August 6, 2008, JASRAC filed a lawsuit against JUST ONLINE demanding cessation of the transmission of video files containing JASRAC repertoire and payment of 120 million yen in compensation.
Among various video posting websites, many site operators are seeking legitimate business models by voluntarily removing infringing videos. These operators have been obtaining prior consent of right owners to legally distribute videos in order to prevent infringing activities from occurring. JUST ONLINE, however, failed to implement any of such preventive measures and continued its irresponsible operation by ignoring and allowing copyright infringement. As a result, vast amount of video files are uploaded onto the site and transmitted to the public.
In this decision, Tokyo District Court recognized that "the nature of the service in question is highly probable of copyright infringement." "The Defendant is an entity which is supposed to operate and manage such services. In fact, on a moderate calculation limited to JASRAC repertoire, the 49.51%, almost a half, of its materials on the site in question are in violation of copyright. The high probability of copyright infringement can easily be foreseen by the defendant. The defendant is well aware of the situation. Nonetheless, the defendant has failed to take any effective measures to avoid and remove the infringing video files. Furthermore, the defendant is making a profit by such activities." The Court decided that the defendant played a major role in reproduction and transmission to the public that take place on the site in question. The defendant is also decided to be a sender under the Law on Limitation of Certain Telecommunication Service Providers' Liability to Pay Damages and on Disclosure of Senders' Information (Internet Service Provider's Liability Limitation Law). Thus, as regards the rights of reproduction and public transmission which JASRAC administers, the Court recognized JASRAC's claims for an injunction and damages.
JASRAC highly values this decision since it shows the responsibility of the site operator when copyrighted works are used on a video posting (sharing) website.
While approximately 60 video posting websites are found in Japan, JASRAC currently has license agreements for usage of JASRAC repertoire with 25 sites operators. The rest of these sites are operated with a policy of not using JASRAC repertoire by voluntarily removing infringing videos from their sites.
*Licensing Conditions for Video Posting (Sharing) Services
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