News
Japanese Court: ManekiTV's Live Streaming Service is Illegal
posted on by Gia Manry
The Japanese supreme court ruled last week that ManekiTV, Nakano Shoten's service which forwarded Japanese television programs to overseas users in real time, is illegal. This judgment overruled several previous judgments made by lower courts that the service was legal. According to the supreme court, the streaming service constitute "public transmission," but the same is not necessarily the case if a private individual were to stream to another individual. The case has been turned over to the Intellectual Property High Court to calculate damages.
The public broadcaster NHK and five private television networks joined together to sue Nagano Shoten. The service itself utilized a Sony television tuner to distribute programs to users' computers via Internet streaming.
Thanks to Petrified Jello for the news tip.