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September 8, 2010
JASRAC
Japanese Society for Rights of Authors,
Composers and Publishers (JASRAC)
Copyright infringement on a video posting (sharing) site
Appeals court once again acknowledges JASRAC's claims for injunction and damages
The Intellectual Property High Court handed down a decision today against JUST ONLINE Co., Ltd. (company's headquarters located in Tokyo), the operator of a video posting (sharing) website "TV BREAK," that they uphold the decision of the Tokyo District Court delivered on November 13, 2009 and that the appeal made by the company is dismissed. The 2009 decision had ordered JUST ONLINE to halt the transmission of video files containing JASRAC repertoire and had also ordered the company and its CEO, Yoshihide Imasaki, to pay compensation for damages on copyright infringement.
JUST ONLINE and Yoshihide Imasaki had disagreed with the aforementioned District Court decision and had filed an appeal with the Intellectual Property High Court on November 27, 2009, claiming that there are errors in the original decision as to who played the major role in copyright infringing acts and the interpretation and application of the term "sender" as stated in the Internet Service Provider's Liability Limitation Law.
JASRAC highly values this decision as it clearly acknowledges and judges with regard to the use of copyrighted works on the "TV BREAK" video posting (sharing) website that: 1) the defendant company, who is the operator of the said website, is the entity considered responsible for the use of copyrighted works, and 2) the defendant company is equivalent to the "sender" in Article 2 (iv) of the Internet Service Provider's Liability Limitation Law as the one recording or entering information in the server associated with this case. The decision has also acknowledged the defendant's obligation to pay approximately 100 million yen in compensation for damages, this including delay damages and damages corresponding to royalties, the latter of which was calculated at 12 yen per video view.
Video posting (sharing) website services in Japan were started by a number of operators around 2006. Of the 60 such websites currently in existence, 25 have licensing agreements with JASRAC for the usage of JASRAC repertoire. Many of the rest seek to operate their websites legitimately by taking preventive measures against copyright infringement - for example, by voluntarily removing infringing videos from their sites.
Today's decision is expected to strike a note of warning not only against operators of video posting (sharing) websites but also against operators of "user upload" type services who leave illegal music files and videos unattended.
JASRAC will continue to give caution and warnings against illegal use of copyrighted works on the Internet and will seek to raise copyright awareness through publicity activities to promote the legitimate use of music.
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