Saiko Saibansho Daisan Sho Hotei [Supreme Court Third Petit Bench], December 19, 2011
Japan Supreme Court
Heisei 21 (A) no. 1900 (2011)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
A software developer (defendant) created Winny, a peer-to-peer file-sharing program that enabled users to easily share various kinds of data, including copyrighted films, video games, and other works. As part of a lawsuit by the copyright holders of a video game (plaintiffs) against two Winny users for the unauthorized sharing of the game, the software developer was also sued as an accessory to the infringement—i.e., someone who knowingly performed an act that aided other parties in the commission of a crime. The trial court held that the software developer was an accessory and assessed a fine of 1.5 million yen against him. The software developer appealed. The appeals court reversed, holding that the software developer’s role in the infringement was not proactive enough to justify liability as an accessory. The case was then appealed to the Japan Supreme Court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Okabe, Nasu, Tahara, Otani, Terada, J.J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 830,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,400 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
