2 Ordered to Pay 500 M. Yen in Compensation over "Fast Movies"

Tokyo, Nov. 17 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered two people to pay a total of 500 million yen in compensation for violating the copyright of movie companies by uploading "fast movies" to YouTube.

The ruling marked the first compensation order regarding fast movies, edited without the authorization of copyright holders to about 10 minutes long each. Thirteen movie companies, including Toho Co. <9602> and Shochiku Co. <9601>, had sought 500 million yen in compensation from the man and woman.

The two and another man were arrested by the prefectural police department of Miyagi, northeastern Japan, last year. They were found guilty of violating the copyright law and a suspended sentence was finalized for them.

According to the complaint and other sources, the two defendants started uploading fast movies to YouTube in around early 2020.

As of October that year, they had posted 54 fast movies including those of "Shin Godzilla" and "The Devotion of Suspect X," with total view counts topping 10 million.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]