[Ecommerce] second hand software sales battle

[Takeshi Muramoto]

info

Is there any same court battle in other country?

Takeshi Muramoto

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20020605b7.htm

METI enters fray over secondhand game software sales

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has announced that it will set
up a distribution study group to mediate the protracted dispute between game
software makers and secondhand shops that sell their products.
Software developers claim secondhand shops impede new products sales and
strip them of chances to recoup development costs, according to the ministry
officials.
The dispute developed into a four-year legal battle, which ended in April
when the Supreme Court ruled secondhand sales are legal.
It was the court's first-ever ruling on copyrights for game software.
The developers filed the suit against the secondhand sales in 1998, claiming
they constitute copyright piracy because shop operators do not pay them
royalties.
They also argued their products should be treated like movies and therefore
they should have the same distribution rights.
The top court ruled however that copyright ends as soon as new products are
put on sale and does not cover secondhand sales.
Despite the ruling, the two sides have remained at loggerheads, which
prompted METI to step into the fray. The ministry will set up the study
group as early as next month to find what it calls a practical solution to
the problem.
The group is expected to include a recently organized body of 2,217 video
game software shops, representing more than half the industry, consumer
representatives and the semipublic Computer Entertainment Software
Association.
The ministry will consider allowing secondhand shops to continue selling the
products but require them to pay developers "development cooperation" fees,
which would not be considered copyright royalties, the officials said.
The Japan Times: June 5, 2002