A 53-year-old Japanese man named Shinobu Yoshida was sentenced to two years in prison and fined ¥1 million (around $6,785) for monetizing gameplay videos on Alphabet Inc‘s (NASDAQ:GOOGL)(NASDAQ:GOOG) YouTube without permission from publishers.
According to IGN, this marked the first conviction of its kind in Japan.
Yoshida uploaded videos related to the visual novel “Steins;Gate: My Darling’s Embrace” and summaries of episodes from the “Steins;Gate” and “Spy x Family” anime shows, earning revenue from them, which violates Japanese copyright law.
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The Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) referred to this as a “malicious case of posting videos containing content and endings (spoilers) without permission from the rights holders.”
The organization added Yoshida gained advertising revenue through copyright infringement.
While Yoshida acknowledged the illegality of his actions, he claimed he did it as a hobby to share his creations.
The prosecution argued that his actions were “malicious” because they harmed content production efforts and discouraged consumers from purchasing the game or anime episodes due to spoilers.
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