JASRAC Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers
Japanese Page
Sitemap
FAQ
 
 
News Releases INDEX
Prev Next


March 30, 2010
JASRAC


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

Administrator of rental bulletin board for mobile phones and
man uploading music files are pronounced guilty


The Otsu District Court has handed down today a prison sentence of 1 year and 6 months (suspended term of 3 years) to a man administering a bulletin board for mobile phones titled "DoCoMo Kashubetsu Souko" and to a man uploading music files onto it. The two men had been arrested by the Cyber Crime Control Office, Living Environment Section, Department of Community Safety of the Shiga Prefectural Police Department and the Kusatsu Police Station on January 26, and were indicted (trial requested) by the Otsu District Public Prosecutors' Office on February 15.

Many illegal materials such as music files are uploaded onto rental bulletin boards for mobile phones, causing serious copyright infringement. Illegal music distribution is a hindrance to the development of music culture, and JASRAC vows its continued cooperation with the police in proactively eradicating illegal music transmissions over the Internet.

The downloading of music from sites conducting illegal distribution and P2P software networks under the knowledge that the distributions are illegal became an illegal act as of January 2010 due to an amendment to the Japanese Copyright Law.
For more information on the amended Copyright Law, please refer to the Japanese government's Internet video (available in Japanese only):
http://nettv.gov-online.go.jp/prg/prg2824.html

End

For further information, please send your e-mails to:
JASRAC-International Relations Department: