{"id":70642,"date":"2026-08-05T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=70642"},"modified":"2026-08-05T17:41:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T08:41:54","slug":"japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese publishers continue legal crackdown on sites hosting \u201cdetailed summaries\u201d of movies. New case sees prison sentences and fines of up to $6k"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Back in May this year, four Japanese individuals were referred to the prosecution on suspicion of violating domestic copyright laws by posting \u201cspoiler heavy\u201d written summaries of movies on their website alongside related screenshots. According to a new follow-up by report<\/a> by Japan\u2019s Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), following subsequent charges, the two men and two women were handed guilty verdicts at the Sendai District Court on August 3. The verdicts were as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Company executive A: 2 years\u2019 imprisonment with a 3-year suspension, and a fine of 1 million yen
Company employee B: 1 year\u2019s imprisonment with a 2-year suspension
Writer C: A fine of 500,000 yen
Writer D: A fine of 300,000 yen
Operating company: A fine of 1 million yen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Japanese media outlet Anime Anime<\/a>, the website in question hosted summary articles on over 8,000 different films. Notably, in November 2023, the group posted detailed transcriptions of works copyrighted by CODA member companies like Toho (Godzilla Minus One), Toei (Shin Kamen Rider), KADOKAWA (Kubi) and Tsuburaya Productions (Shin Ultraman).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the investigation and public trials held on July 24 and August 3 respectively, the court concluded that \u201cthe defendants had conspired to commit organized copyright infringement and had operated their website in questions with the intentions to make profit.\u201d CODA calls it an \u201cextremely rare\u201d case in which the operating company itself was also referred for prosecution and charged with violating the Copyright Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some would consider the practice to be in a legal \u201cgrey zone,\u201d CODA describes the act of publishing detailed written summaries of the entire story of a movie as \u201cbeyond the scope of lawful quotation.\u201d It argues that such acts may create a situation that allows readers to roughly understand the full story of a movie without actually watching it, reducing willingness to pay for legitimate content distribution services, and thus \u201cseriously impacting the content industry.\u201d Interestingly, this has been the second case this year in which writers and website operators were found liable for contributing to monetized sites that centered around movie plot summaries. Back in April, a website administrator in Tokyo was charged with violating the Copyright Act for posting \u201cspoiler articles\u201d containing written digests of movie and anime plots<\/a>. The man was sentenced to one year and six months of prison with a 4-year suspension and a penalty of 1 million yen. A writer who worked for the website was also found guilty on July 16 and fined 500,000 yen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CODA argued that such acts reduce willingness to pay for legitimate content distribution services, \u201cseriously impacting the content industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":70645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2","date":"2026-08-05T13:00:51+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3msdlia4gzt25","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3msdlia4gzt25\",\"cid\":\"bafyreic4v6ugqw7t4m6gxpw4jwkfm6dlffvsqbng5mjm7ncujmsssj3ihm\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreia3glrvzaogibrkttft4yjy7zq3a2aqnduj3quasrpyfxo7ph2lwy\",\"rev\":\"3msdlia4lw325\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-70642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nJapanese publishers continue legal crackdown on sites hosting \u201cdetailed summaries\u201d of movies. New case sees prison sentences and fines of up to $6k - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CODA argued that such acts reduce willingness to pay for legitimate content distribution services, \u201cseriously impacting the content industry.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese publishers continue legal crackdown on sites hosting \u201cdetailed summaries\u201d of movies. New case sees prison sentences and fines of up to $6k - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CODA argued that such acts reduce willingness to pay for legitimate content distribution services, \u201cseriously impacting the content industry.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-05T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260805-70642-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1194\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"544\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japanese publishers continue legal crackdown on sites hosting \u201cdetailed summaries\u201d of movies. New case sees prison sentences and fines of up to $6k - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"CODA argued that such acts reduce willingness to pay for legitimate content distribution services, \u201cseriously impacting the content industry.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Japanese publishers continue legal crackdown on sites hosting \u201cdetailed summaries\u201d of movies. New case sees prison sentences and fines of up to $6k - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"CODA argued that such acts reduce willingness to pay for legitimate content distribution services, \u201cseriously impacting the content industry.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-08-05T13:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1194,"height":544,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260805-70642-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"\u0110or\u0111e P","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u0110or\u0111e P","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/"},"author":{"name":"\u0110or\u0111e P","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e62deb6406bad91fe5f441afc29c1696"},"headline":"Japanese publishers continue legal crackdown on sites hosting \u201cdetailed summaries\u201d of movies. New case sees prison sentences and fines of up to $6k","datePublished":"2026-08-05T13:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/"},"wordCount":421,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260805-70642-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/","name":"Japanese publishers continue legal crackdown on sites hosting \u201cdetailed summaries\u201d of movies. New case sees prison sentences and fines of up to $6k - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260805-70642-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-05T13:00:00+00:00","description":"CODA argued that such acts reduce willingness to pay for legitimate content distribution services, \u201cseriously impacting the content industry.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260805-70642-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260805-70642-header.jpg","width":1194,"height":544,"caption":"Godzilla Minus One"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-publishers-continue-legal-crackdown-on-sites-hosting-detailed-summaries-of-movies-new-case-sees-prison-sentences-and-fines-of-up-to-6k\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Japanese publishers continue legal crackdown on sites hosting \u201cdetailed summaries\u201d of movies. New case sees prison sentences and fines of up to $6k"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e62deb6406bad91fe5f441afc29c1696","name":"\u0110or\u0111e P","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","caption":"\u0110or\u0111e P"},"description":"Automaton West Editor","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/djordje-p\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70642"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70646,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70642\/revisions\/70646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}