p2pnet - rss feed: Japanese ‘Napster’ shut down
Japanese p2p operator MMO Japan has been ordered by the Tokyo District Court to shut down its File Rogue site and to pay more than $650,000 (71 million yen) to Japanese labels and JASRAC for damage they allegedly suffered from MMO’s online music file-swapping system.
This follows an interim ruling in a suit filed in 2002 by the Recording Industry Association of Japan and JASRAC (Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers) looking for almost $3.5 million in damages for copyright violations, and for File Rogue’s closure, says Kyodo News here.
When MMO introduced File Rogue it, "gained much attention as ‘a service offering free software to enable file exchange’ and as ‘a Japanese version of Napster’, says JASRAC here, going on:
"Many Internet users converted musical compact discs into files such as MP3 files and used this website. According to research conducted by JASRAC, at least 63,000 works in the REPERTOIRE a month were used in this service."
It also says:
"On January 29, 2001, JASRAC applied for a provisional injunction to the Tokyo District Court seeking to halt the relevant service. The application was made jointly with 19 companies under the Recording Industry Association of Japan, owner of neighboring rights.
"On February 28, 2002, a suit was filed and demands were made as follows
"?MMO Japan Ltd. shall not make electronic MP3 files created by the reproduction of REPERTOIRE available sending/receiving by ?File Rogue,? an electronic file exchange service on the Internet administered by the relevant company.
"?MMO Japan Ltd. and its representative, Michihito Matsuda, shall jointly pay 214,330,000 yen for damages up to February 2002 and 39,690,000 yen a month for damages after March 1, 2002.
"Provisional injunction on April 9, 2002üInformation of files, such as work titles and artistsÁ names, shall not be transmitted to users of File Rogue."
