Author: Hiroki Horita, Attorney at Law

【Guilty verdict for a person who published, etc., a Fast Movie】

According to reports, on November 16, 2021, the Japanese District Court issued a guilty verdict for violations of the Copyright Act against three defendants for uploading to YouTube a “Fast Movie” compiled to about 10 minutes for which they sold advertising. The main defendant received a sentence for 2 years imprisonment, penalty of 2 million yen, and a 4 year suspended sentence, and the other defendants received sentences for imprisonment and penalties. After the above verdict there have been other reports of arrests for Fast Movies.

【What is the problem with Fast Movies】

A Fast Movie is a movie that is compiled to about 10 minutes and even if you do not see the usual 2 hour movie a Fast Movie will relay the main points and a viewer can grasp the key visuals. Since June 2021 when exposure of Fast Movies really started more than 2100 movies have been uploaded and people watching them have reached 470 million times. ^[1]

Since the copyright holders have the rights of integrity^[2] together with the right of adaptation^[3] and right to display to the public (upload^[4]) ^[5], etc., the act of uploading and changing the content of the work without permission is an illegal act. In certain cases under the Copyright Act it is allowed to refer to a work for which a copyright of another exists but there is no provision that clearly allows a wrap up.

In the case of an infringement of copyright, there is the possibility for a 10 year sentence and/or 10 million yen fine, and in the case of an infringement of the moral rights there is the possibility for a 5 year sentence and/or 5 million yen fine^[6].

Care needs to be taken that this is only the criminal penalties. In other words, a violation of copyright with a guilty verdict results in a fine which is merely a fine, but compensation damages must be paid to the copyright holder separately.

This is not only a Fast Movie problem, “spoiler site^[7]“ and sites that summarize a novel, etc., and then upload a copyright work without permission can all be illegal acts in the same way.

---

[1] research by the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA)

[2] “The author of a work has the right to preserve the integrity of that work and its title, and is not to be made to suffer any alteration, cut, or other modification thereto that is contrary to the author’s intention.” (Copyright Act Article 20, paragraph 1)

[3] “The author of a work has the exclusive right to translate that work, compose a musical arrangement of it, reformulate it, dramatize it, make a cinematographic adaptation of it, or otherwise adapt the work.” (Copyright Act Article 27)

[4] Although it is ingenuous to state that upload is the same as right to display to the public but we use it for convenience.

[5] “The author of a work has the exclusive right to transmit to the public that work (this includes the right to make the work available for transmission, if the work is to be transmitted to the public via automatic public transmission).” (Copyright Act Article 23, paragraph 1)

[6] Copyright Act Article 119, paragraph 1 and paragraph 2, item 1.

[7] “spoiler site” is not the problem, but changes to a copyright work and uploading acts have the possibility to violate the law which is necessary to understand.

【Handling of pirated works】

The digital revolution has made it easy to electronically copy and distribute things and the proliferation of smart-phones and e-commerce sites where individual imports are increasing, etc., and the production of and access to pirated works (contents or items that infringe the rights of third persons) has become extremely easy. The Ministry of Culture and METI and various other organizations are repeatedly undertaking edification activities, but pirated works are still prolific and handling them is like popping gophers and chasing weasels, and at the present time it is difficult to stop pirated works before they appear.

However, in the case where an infringement of rights is discovered firm measures are taken by web sites and the product is noted, etc., clearly, and when a pirated work is actually found each e-commerce site has programs to report infringements of intellectual property and utilize waters edge systems, and the effectiveness is high for criminal suits and suits for damages, etc. (according to reports, even for the above Fast Movies, the defendants aim for movie companies that do not have a history of reporting infringements of copyright to make a Fast Movie^[8]).

Although it is not limited to intellectual property rights, it is important to be a “person who speaks up” when publishing or selling, etc., a work or product for which you hold rights and even after publishing, etc., to not be included in rights holders who do not speak up.

---

[8] “First guilty verdict for an uploader of “Fast Movie” – an organized crime aimed at movie companies without a history of reporting infringements” Shojin Tanii, ITmedia）https://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/2111/16/news156.html