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News Releases

October 21, 2013
Japanese Society for Rights of Authors,
Composers and Publishers
(JASRAC)

Copyright infringement using rental storage services
Case brought against minor who illegally uploaded music files

The Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) filed a complaint with the Kagoshima Nishi Police Department against a minor, who is a resident of Kagoshima City, who illegally uploaded music files of copyright works administered by JASRAC.

The minor infringed the copyrights (right of public transmission) held by JASRAC by uploading music files of works administered by JASRAC and other material to a rental storage service called "getuploader," and guiding visitors to a blog he operated so that they could download those music files and other material.

According to the police investigation, this minor installed the file-sharing software "μ Torrent" into his personal computer, and obtained music and other material by downloading a large number of music files, tools that allow unauthorized access to Internet games, etc. (the same files are inevitably uploaded by the PC). It is known that the minor subsequently uploaded some of the files he obtained onto a rental storage site, and allowed visitors to the blog he operated to download those files. Also, due to the large volume of music and other data being transmitted from the minor’s PC, a warning had been received from the service provider, and the minor proceeded to initialize the hard disk drive. However, it has become clear from the accounts by those aware of this case that the minor reinstalled "μ Torrent" and continued to commit acts of copyright infringement.

Since 2003, JASRAC has continued to apply measures aimed at preventing acts of copyright infringement using file-sharing software. And from March 2010, with the cooperation of service providers, JASRAC has been conducting activities which require users of file-sharing software to delete illegal files, based on the public awareness scheme promoted by the Consortium against Copyright Infringement via File-Sharing Software (CCIF).

Illegal public transmissions using rental storage services that are open to the public and file-sharing software can not only cause significant damage for copyright owners, but also can directly contribute to the degeneration of music culture.

While JASRAC continues to try to provide copyright education, especially to the younger generations, this case is not being taken lightly. Therefore, JASRAC will redouble its efforts to raise copyright awareness through public relations activities with an aim to eradicate acts of copyright infringement with the cooperation of those involved.

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