On June 23, 2021, the Miyagi Prefectural Police Headquarters and Shiogama Police Station arrested three suspects on suspicion of violating copyright law for uploading movies to YouTube without permission from the copyright holders.
The suspects allegedly edited three films, including I Am a Hero, owned by Toho Co., Ltd., and Cold Fish, owned by NIKKATSU CORPORATION, into shortened versions of around 10 minutes, adding narration and uploading them to YouTube between June and July 2020. They were said to have earned ad revenue from these uploads.
This case was prompted by an investigation from the Miyagi Prefectural Police. Lawyer Hiroyuki Nakajima, Legal Director of the Cross-Border Enforcement Project (CBEP), which CODA has been actively working on since this fiscal year, conducted international enforcement procedures. After obtaining legally backed information on the suspects, CODA coordinated with the affected rights holders, leading to this arrest.
“Fast movies” are shortened summaries of movies or dramas, edited down to around 10 minutes, often including the plot’s conclusion. These have become an issue as they accumulate large numbers of views on video-sharing sites like YouTube. CODA has confirmed that other accounts, aside from those belonging to the arrested suspects, have amassed nearly 7 million views, with the uploaders likely earning improper ad revenue.
CODA plans to take measures against malicious accounts by conducting international enforcement procedures to request disclosure of information from overseas platforms to identify uploaders. We would also like viewers to understand that watching such videos indirectly provides revenue to criminals and harms the interests of the rights holders who create these works. We urge people to refrain from casually viewing these videos.
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About CODA
CODA (Content Overseas Distribution Association) was established in 2002 at the call of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Agency for Cultural Affairs to promote the overseas development of Japanese content and take anti-piracy measures. Japan’s proud content, including music, movies, anime, broadcast programs, video games, and publishing, plays an important role in enhancing the nation’s international presence and economic growth. As digital technology becomes more widespread, it is even more significant to protect Japan’s content from increasingly artful copyright infringement and promote the content industry’s development. CODA contributes to the deterrence and detection of online and other piracy, by sharing knowledge with relevant government agencies, organizations, and companies in Japan and abroad, to engage in direct and indirect anti-piracy measures, as well as public relations activities. Visit https://coda-cj.jp/en/activity/ for more information on CODA’s projects.