The Asahi Shimbun Digital reports that the content creator was sentenced by the Sendai District Court Shinobu Yoshida (吉田忍) for violating the Intellectual Property Law by publishing unauthorized videos of edited video games and anime, and a two-year prison sentence with a five-year suspended sentence (he will not serve the two years in prison unless he commits another crime in the next five years) and a fine of one million yen (about 6800 US dollars).
The subject was charged copyright infringement by unauthorized publication on YouTube of a video edited with recaps of the video game “STEINS; GATE My Darling’s Embrace” and the animes “STEINS; GATE” and “SPY x FAMILY”. Regarding his objectives, 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 the purchase of video games and derivative products and trampled the effort to create content, and sought a sentence of two years in prison and a fine of 1 million yen. The defence, for its part, argued that the defendant’s behavior was not “particularly malicious” and asked for the sentence to be suspended.
The case attracted attention as it was the first time a video game streaming trial had been attempted, but the outcome of the case was harsh, as the sentence, although suspended, was generally in line with the requested penalty . Video game streaming is becoming an important part of the culture, but it seems necessary to re-examine the attitude towards compliance with rights and guidelines.
And it was clear that the story wasn’t getting much attention in the traffic forums in Japan, especially since the trials of Shinji Aoba, the attacker of Kyoto Animation, are just underway:
- «It’s unbelievable that he had to pay five times what author Nobuhiro Watsuki was paid for owning child pornography».
- «Well, I think if Eiichiro Oda supported him, he might not have to pay so much money. Have you already forgotten that Oda got his hands on the pedophile?».
- «They should criticize those who leak manga chapters, but they pretend they don’t exist».
- «Meanwhile, a large number of people in Japan get out to expose minors».
- «But pedophilia only gets you five months in prison in Japan and spanking, great country!».
- «Japan is the legal laughingstock of the whole world as always».
- «I imagine the author of Rurouni Kenshin reads these headlines and thinks, “Gosh! Isn’t he a bad man!”».
- «Poor guy, he practically committed the crime at the bottom of the list but they punish him worse than a dog because he’s not a manga author».
- «A fucking joke, free it and apply that severity to rapists and pedophiles, to see if how they solve their birth problem».
- «Well, what’s better, now I’m going to set fire to a building and I’m sure they’ll give me a lesser sentence than this poor guy.».
- «I understand that publishing a recap of STEINS;GATE has such an effect that people aren’t watching the anime anymore because they already watched the recap, but sentencing him to prison? Oh really?».
Fountain: Games inside
