In Japan, spoiling a movie can ship you to jail | EUROtoday
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En France, disclosing the ending of a movie can, within the worst case, price its writer public exasperation. But, in Japan, it may possibly price way more. An aspiring novelist realized this the onerous approach. As reported by the Japanese every day The Mainichithe 46-year-old man was in actual fact sentenced to a superb of three,000 euros for having revealed, on-line, the complete plot of Godzilla Minus One.
The particular person labored for a web site specializing in Japanese manga and movies. This author, who had by no means obtained public recognition till now, began his exercise in 2019. The wage was round 80,000 yen ($540). Very removed from the Japanese median wage, however a steady earnings, which he couldn’t refuse.
But his work questioned him: “These are articles that contain spoilers, aren’t they? Isn’t that a problem? » he asked his employer. And, in fact, the site operated by the company was not a simple database to present films, manga and anime. Some explained the plot of the film, until the end.
A (too) important success
For several years, he wrote around a hundred articles per month, in succession, without any proofreading or editing. His fears about the legality of his actions had dissipated over time. It is in November 2023 that everything changes: on the occasion of the release of Godzilla Minus Onehe was asked to write about the feature film.
Although he did not particularly enjoy the film, he wrote a comprehensive spoiler for it, piecing together his memories of the film with information from a brochure and other public documents. The objective, for him, is to allow readers to imagine the scenes. His article, published the day after the film’s release, enjoyed greater success than usual.
Probably a little too much: a year later, he was arrested by the Miyagi prefectural police. “You are suspected of having violated copyright law,” the police informed him. Indeed, Japanese regulation considers the unauthorized publication of detailed contents of copyrighted works to be a violation of copyright. In March 2021, the Tokyo District Court condemned a website specializing in spoilers for having broadcast nearly the entire manga’s dialogue Kengan Omega with out authorization.
“I memorized it with determination”
The court docket dominated that this follow constituted a violation of copyright. During the trial, in June 2025, the accused absolutely admitted the allegations in opposition to him. “My actions harmed the creators’ efforts. I caused trouble for the film’s production team and the fans who were looking forward to this work. »
A point is raised by the newspaper: even if thehe story and characters told were almost identical to those in the film, and scenes faithful to the dialogues, there is no evidence, including audio recordings. “Can you write a paper from memory after seeing a movie just once? » he was asked. The man explained: “I memorized it hard. » He clarified that he had not taken any notes and insisted that he had not recorded “because it is illegal”.
The head of the corporate working the web site can be being prosecuted on suspicion of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. His sentence might be heavy. He is accused, just like the editor, of not having revered copyright regulation. The variety of articles suspected of being unlawful seems to have decreased considerably on the positioning.
“Compared to pirated versions that download the original content as is, articles containing spoilers are often perceived as a lesser copyright violation. However, if they distort the plot, they nevertheless reduce the incentive to pay to see the work,” explains the Content Overseas Distribution Association (Coda), an integrated affiliation of publishers, who had pushed for harder laws. In France, for the second, no violation of disclosure exists in French regulation.
https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/au-japon-spoiler-un-film-peut-vous-envoyer-en-prison-10-10-2025-2600691_23.php