* Additional commentary: Taro Yaguchi has written up a blog post highlighting some of the issues that came to light in this case, separately available here.
YouTube’s copyright policies are fairly strict on infringers of intellectual property, enabling a reporter to have videos that allegedly infringe copyright deleted quickly. And note that Japan does not have a “Fair Use” doctrine for copyright as in the United States, so much that would be considered “fair use” in a separate work could be construed as copyright-infringing. Yet A new lawsuit at the Kyoto District Court held that reporters may be liable for negligent reports, and may have opened a door to a spate of legal battles over unfair removal requests.
Two parties, both “YouTubers” that shared videos of knitting projects on the online video sharing platform, were the parties in court. One woman in Toyama Prefecture found two of her videos had been deleted suddenly in February 2020, due to a report by two women in Kyoto Prefecture.[1] The plaintiff asserted the defendant “abused” YouTube’s policies, and her lawyer asserts the emotional distress of finding her video lost was great. On the other hand, the defendants claimed they had sufficiently considered whether their work was copyrighted or not.[2]
The court did not, it seems, consider if YouTube has a poor policy in place, but rather focused on the reporters. The court decided that the defendants were negligent in their understanding of copyright [1] and there were real damages to the plaintiff.[3] Chief Justice Hasebe decided that (a) the videos of the two parties were not particularly similar and (b) in the first place, knitting, as craft and technique, is an “idea” that cannot be copyrighted.[2]
The awarded damages are paltry, only about US$700, and we do not know what kind of response various other YouTubers will have.[2] The precedent may deter and educate other would-be reporters of “copyrighted” video content, but the small damages awarded this time suggest that people who lose their videos to such frivolous reports will probably think carefully if their losses are big enough to make a legal battle in the Japanese court system worthwhile.
* The information provided on this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice.
** For questions or consultation, please contact us for more information.
Contact: Taro Yaguchi
Sources
[1] Kyoto Shimbun. “編み物ユーチューバーらに賠償命令 著作権侵害していない動画の削除要請で [Damages ordered to knitting YouTubers over deletion request for a video that was not infringing copyright].” https://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/articles/-/697905 December 21, 2021. Accessed December 23, 2021.
[2] NHK [Japan Broadcasting Corporation] Kyoto News Web. “編み物ユーチューバー訴訟 動画削除申し立てで賠償命じる [Knitting YouTubers’ court case: damages awarded over deletion request].” https://www3.nhk.or.jp/lnews/kyoto/20211221/2010012995.html December 21, 2021. Accessed December 23, 2021.
[3] Yomiuri Shimbun. “編み方動画に著作権なし、地裁「ユーチューブへの削除要請は過失」…７万円支払い命令 [Video of knitting not copyrighteds, so District Court holds deletion request to Youtube negilgent; order to pay 70,000 yen damages].” https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/20211222-OYT1T50063/ December 22, 2021. Accessed December 23, 2021.
Header image by ANTHR_Photoblog from Pixabay
Published December 23, 2021; slightly updated March 3, 2022.
