A Japanese court ruled that the so-called “spoiler article,” which detailed the film’s plot and major scenes, constitutes a copyright infringement.
According to Japan’s NHK and other foreign media, the Tokyo District Court sentenced a site operator accused of violating copyright laws to one and a half years in prison, four years of probation, and a fine of 1 million yen.
From 2018 to 2023, the operator posted a detailed summary of the contents of movies and animations through external writers and made advertising profits. The investigation showed that he ordered “write it so that you can know all the contents just by reading the article” and earned about 38 million yen in 2023 alone.
The issue of the trial was whether the act of summarizing the contents of the movie in writing falls under “different” under the copyright law. The contents in question were the movie “Godzilla-1.0” and the animation “Overload III-The Manager’s Depression,” and it was found that A organized the development from beginning to end and moved some lines as it was.
The prosecution demanded a year and a half in prison, saying, “It violated the profits that the copyright holder should properly enjoy by allowing us to fully grasp the contents without looking at the original work.” On the other hand, Mr. A claimed, “Just by introducing the plot, we cannot convey the core expression elements of the original work such as video and directing.”
The court, however, judged that “the article describing the development of the film is a new work that maintains the essential characteristics of the original work, and it falls under a different version.” He then pointed out, “The content and content are similar to those of the original work, which is beyond the scope of simple reviews.”
He also revealed the reason for the sentencing, saying, “There is a concern that the act of using content value without the permission of the copyright holder may hinder cultural development.”
Usually, when adapting a movie in the form of a novel, you have to pay a usage fee with the permission of the copyright holder, but this case was pointed out as a problem that it was done without permission.
Meanwhile, in Japan, copyright infringement was also admitted to the operators of ‘Fast Movie’, which summarized the 2021 movie video in about 10 minutes. This ruling is evaluated as an example showing that detailed plotlines in text form can also be subject to punishment.
SALLY LEE
US ASIA JOURNAL
