Tokyo District Court building in the city's Kasumigaseki district.
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The Tokyo District Court has ordered a US-based IT company to pay approximately ¥500 million JPY ($3.2 million USD) in damages for providing data distribution service to a pirate website. The suspicious website had posted popular Japanese anime and manga, such as One Piece, without permission.
This is the first judicial decision to order compensation from a distributor for "aiding and abetting the infringement of rights." In this case, the defendant operated a service that enabled the distribution of enormous amounts of data.
Piracy is tantamount to theft. It illicitly captures value from another party's creative work, and assisting such conduct cannot be permitted. Everyone needs to remain mindful of the law.
What Happened
Four major publishing companies ー Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan, and KADOKAWA ー filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco-headquartered IT company Cloudflare Inc, alleging copyright (publishing rights) infringement.
The issue concerned a distribution service called "Content Delivery Network" provided by Cloudflare. CDN makes the temporary data replication and distribution possible through its large-scale servers. The data can thereby be made available to large numbers of customers.
The Tokyo District Court found Cloudflare Inc knew about the damage it was causing. However, even after being contacted by the publishers in question, Cloudflare continued to provide services to suspicious companies. The court held that it failed to take timely and appropriate action despite receiving infringement notices from the rights holders.
Another issue the court focused upon was the simplified identity verification procedures that Cloudflare used to sign distribution contracts with pirate site operators, which ensured anonymity. For this reason, the court found Cloudflare was liable for facilitating the illegal activities.
Cloudflare Inc says that it intends to appeal the decision. The company also contends that the decision will have a "serious impact on the efficiency and reliability of the Internet."
However, the malicious use of such services facilitates the theft of creative works and simply cannot be tolerated. IT companies must be aware of their heavy responsibility in promoting proper use of the Internet.
Respect the Content Creators
Some publishers and other organizations have individually requested the removal of pirate sites. However, affiliated sites have been repeatedly opened and then later shut down. That has resulted in a cat-and-mouse game.
The damage to content creators and lawful publishers caused by free online reading is enormous. According to the anti-piracy group Authorized Books of Japan, or ABJ, which is made up of publishers and other organizations, the damage is estimated to amount to approximately ¥8.5 trillion (nearly $55 billion) per year.
Piracy drains away income that could otherwise be earned by the creators and publishers who support them. In other words, their thievery hinders creative activity.
Pirate sites make money through advertising based on the number of hits. Everyone must remember that viewing pirated content encourages illegal activities, cheats the creators, and stifles new creative endeavors.
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Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
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