A penalty of prison…for showing the end of a game?!
That’s whaton calls for a particularly severe condemnation. Recently, the site ofinformation Japanese spotted by Us learns that 53-year-old Shinodu Yoshida has been found guilty of violating Japanese copyright law by distributing unauthorized videos. The judge sentenced him to a term of prison two years with a five-year reprieve (meaning he won’t be imprisoned until he does it again during this period) as well as a fine of one million yen, which is more than 6000€.
Among the charges against him, Shinodu Yoshida posted three videos on YouTube between September 2019 and May 2022. One featured in-game footage of Steins;Gate: My Darling’s Embrace, a visual novel released in 2011. This is a spin-off romantic comedy style of Steins;Gate, one of the visual novel the best known of the genre, in particular thanks to son 2011 anime adaptation. One of the prosecution’s main arguments relates to one of the videos that feature the game’s ending. However, since the visual novel are experiences with little gameplay, playing or watching a game of the genre on YouTube is much the same.
A “loss of sales” for the publisher
The publisher Spike Chunsoft therefore argues that some players may prefer to “watch” the game on YouTube rather than play it, which would represent a loss of sales for the company. The prosecution argued that Shinodu Yoshida’s actions were a “malicious act that attacks the content creation effort” by discouraging the purchase of this genre of game. Conversely, the defense argues that his actions were not “particularly malicious”, prompting a request for a suspended sentence, which was accepted by the judge. According to Asahi media, this is the first time that someone has been sentenced for violating Japanese copyright law by broadcasting images from a video game. Paradoxically, the end is always easily found on YouTube in Let’s Play…
A penalty of prison…for showing the end of a game?!
That’s whaton calls for a particularly severe condemnation. Recently, the site ofinformation Japanese spotted by Us learns that 53-year-old Shinodu Yoshida has been found guilty of violating Japanese copyright law by distributing unauthorized videos. The judge sentenced him to a term of prison two years with a five-year reprieve (meaning he won’t be imprisoned until he does it again during this period) as well as a fine of one million yen, which is more than 6000€.
Among the charges against him, Shinodu Yoshida posted three videos on YouTube between September 2019 and May 2022. One featured in-game footage of Steins;Gate: My Darling’s Embrace, a visual novel released in 2011. This is a spin-off romantic comedy style of Steins;Gate, one of the visual novel the best known of the genre, in particular thanks to son 2011 anime adaptation. One of the prosecution’s main arguments relates to one of the videos that feature the game’s ending. However, since the visual novel are experiences with little gameplay, playing or watching a game of the genre on YouTube is much the same.
A “loss of sales” for the publisher
The publisher Spike Chunsoft therefore argues that some players may prefer to “watch” the game on YouTube rather than play it, which would represent a loss of sales for the company. The prosecution argued that Shinodu Yoshida’s actions were a “malicious act that attacks the content creation effort” by discouraging the purchase of this genre of game. Conversely, the defense argues that his actions were not “particularly malicious”, prompting a request for a suspended sentence, which was accepted by the judge. According to Asahi media, this is the first time that someone has been sentenced for violating Japanese copyright law by broadcasting images from a video game. Paradoxically, the end is always easily found on YouTube in Let’s Play…
