The Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered a man and woman to pay ¥500 million in damages to 13 major film production companies for uploading minuteslong edited versions of their films known as "fast movies" on video-sharing sites without permission.
It was the first court decision in Japan on the amount of damages to be awarded for such unauthorized uploads. The defendants, both in their 20s, already received suspended sentences for violating copyright law in November, and did not contest the legality of their actions in the civil case.
The plaintiffs, including Toho, Shochiku, and Toei, were awarded the full amount they had demanded.
The production companies filed the suit in May, alleging that the defendants, in collaboration with another man, had created 10-minute edited versions of their films and then uploaded them to YouTube without consent.
According to the lawsuit, the two edited and posted the videos from the beginning of 2020 to October of that year, earning at least ¥7 million in advertising revenue. The November 2021 ruling by the Sendai District Court said the films contained narration about the movies' plots.
The plaintiffs claimed over 50 films, such as "Shin Godzilla," the Oscar-winning drama "Departures" and the horror movie "Cold Fish," were edited and illegally uploaded by the defendants and viewed more than 10 million times.
The plaintiffs determined that the damage was ¥200 per view, which amounts to about ¥2 billion in damages based on the number of views logged by the defendants' YouTube channel. Afterward, they decided to seek ¥500 million in damages for the lawsuit.
The film industry has blamed fast movies for being partly responsible for a decline in moviegoers, resulting in damage to their business.