The Asahi Shimbun Digital reports that the Sendai District Court has sentenced the content creator. Shinobu Yoshida (吉田忍) for violating the Intellectual Property Law by posting unauthorized edited anime and video game videos, and has imposed a sentence of two years in prison with a suspended sentence of five years (You will not serve two years in prison if you do not commit any other crimes in the next five years) and a fine of one million yen (about 6800 US dollars).
The subject was accused of infringing copyright by posting three edited videos with game highlights on YouTube without permission “STEINS;GATE My Darling’s Embrace” and from the anime “STEINS;GATE” and “SPY x FAMILY“. As for his motives, he explained at the trial that he wanted someone to see what he had created as part of his hobby.
The prosecution argued that this act discouraged purchase of the video games and derivative products and trampled on the content creation effort, and sought a two-year prison term and a 1 million yen fine. The defense, for its part, argued that the defendant’s conduct was not “particularly malicious” and requested the suspension of the sentence.
The case drew attention because it was the first time that it had been prosecuted for streaming a video game, but the outcome of the case was harsh, since the sentence, although suspended, was generally in line with the sentence requested. Video game streaming is becoming an important part of the culture, but it seems necessary to once again review the attitude of compliance with rights and guidelines.
And it was clear that the situation was not going to go unnoticed in the commentary forums in Japan, especially since the trials of Shinji Aoba, the Kyoto Animation attacker, are just taking place:
- «It’s unbelievable that he had to pay five times what author Nobuhiro Watsuki paid for possession of child pornography.».
- «Well, I guess if Eiichiro Oda had supported it, maybe he wouldn’t have had to pay so much money. Have you already forgotten that Oda got his hands on the pedophile?».
- «They should condemn those who leak manga chapters, but they pretend they don’t exist».
- «Meanwhile, a lot of people in Japan are getting away with drawing naked minors.».
- «But pedophilia only gets you five months in prison in Japan and a spanking, what a great country!».
- «Japan being the legal laughing stock of the whole world as always».
- «I imagine that the author of Rurouni Kenshin reads these headlines and thinks: “My gosh! What a bad fellow!”».
- «Poor guy, he practically made the crime at the bottom of the list but he is punished worse than a dog just because he is not a manga author».
- «What a fucking joke, release him and apply that severity to rapists and pedophiles, let’s see if that’s how they solve their birth problem».
- «Well what better, now I’m going to burn down a building and I’m sure they give me less sentence than this poor guy».
- «I understand that posting a summary of STEINS;GATE affects in a way that people no longer watch the anime because they already watched the summary, but sentence him to prison? Oh really?».
Fountain: InsideGames
