[Ecommerce] court ruling of song-swap case

[Takeshi Muramoto]

Inormation



>From Asahi Shinbun http://www.asahi.com/tech/asahinews/K2003012901046.html

(Japanese)



The Tokyo District Court ruled out the interlocutory decision that it
corresponded a piracy to enable it to exchange electronic files without
consent of a rightful claimant,  on January 29th. This dispute is regarding
the service for which many and unspecified Internet users enable it to
exchange electronic files, such as Music CD, easily on a network for nothing
with high tone quality fought for whether it infringes on copyright.

Now, the software for which the file of music or a movie is directly
exchangeable is circulating on the market between a user's personal
computers for nothing. For this reason, data can be exchanged even if it
does not go via the management company of file exchange. The illegal state
leaves uncontrolled in the larger range and what administration of justice
has not caught up with actually is the actual condition.

Nihon MMO, the defendant, began service called gfile rogueh in November,
2001. When a user connects with the computer (server) of MMO and chooses a
music name etc., the user is able to connect with another user with the file
of a musical piece, and the user will receive it on a network. The file of a
musical piece is not accumulated at the server of MMO.

Japanese Society of Rights of Authors and Composers (JASRAC) and 19 domestic
record companies filed lawsuits with Tokyo district court. Complainants are
asking for prohibition of file exchange service, and 365,330,000 yen as
damage compensation to MMO.

This judgment is interlocutory decision for arranging the point at issue
before this judgment. The court judged that MMO made the user do a piracy
act and the company had to pay damage compensation about file exchange of
about 37,000 music that already have been carried out. From now on, the
propriety and the amount of damage of service prohibition will be tried.

Regarding MMO case, the JASRAC had applied for provisional disposition and
the Tokyo district court admitted that MMO was against Copyright law in
April, last year, and ordered to the stop of service.




Takeshi Muramoto