The Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) in Tokyo reported on Wednesday that the Miyagi Prefectural Police and Tome Police Station arrested three men on Tuesday, on suspicion of violating the Copyright Act for transcribing stories from films and other copyrighted works, and posting them on a “spoiler site” without permission.
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The arrested men include a 38-year-old company manager from Shibuya Ward, a 33-year-old company employee from Shinjuku Ward, and a 45-year-old part-time employee from Kodaira City.
According to CODA, between January and February 2024, the arrested men transcribed detailed content — including the entire story, character names, lines and actions, scenes, and developments — of the 2023 live-action Godzilla Minus One film, one other film copyrighted by TOHO, and the 2018 Overlord III anime series, copyrighted by Kadokawa. The contents were posted without permission from the rights holders on a so-called “spoiler site” operated by the arrested men’s company.
CODA stated that as a result of the police investigation, it was discovered that the company’s management and employees colluded to systematically commit copyright infringement and operate the website for profit, with the large number of hits it gains.
According to CODA, these “spoiler sites” that transcribe full contents of movies have been considered problematic. CODA explained that the act of transcribing is considered less of an infringement compared to pirated or illegal upload sites, but it is still an act that goes beyond the scope of quoting, and is clearly a serious crime of copyright infringement.
CODA added that the problem with these “spoiler sites” is that they reduce people’s eagerness to pay a fair price for the content, which can lead to people not watching the full movie, causing great damage to the rights holders.
Sources: Content Overseas Distribution Association’s website, Yomiuri Shimbun Online via Yaraon!
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
