A 39-year-old Japanese man, Wataru Takeuchi, is in legal trouble for violating copyright laws by posting spoilers online.
Takeuchi was the administrator of a spoiler site and did not actually write any of the posts himself. However, he did earn money from the site’s ad sales, making 38 million yen ($239,254.04). “He has been sentenced to a one year, six month stint in prison and ordered to pay a 1 million yen ($6,296.16) fine,” the Verge reported.
The outlet also explained, “In a Japanese statement (which we’ve run through translation software) about the case, CODA described how Takeuchi and two other men were first arrested back in 2024 due to concerns about how posts on their ‘spoiler site’ featured large chunks of transcribed dialog and numerous images.”
CODA stands for the Content Overseas Distribution Association. It is a trade association that is meant to fight copyright piracy. Although it is fair use to publish some copyright material, the articles in question went into such great detail about the plots of popular shows and movies that it could discourage audiences from paying to see the original products.
Since there was so much copyright material on the site, James Whitbrook explained, “Two of those articles—one about Godzilla Minus One and another about the anime adaptation of Overlord—prompted respective rights owners Toho and Kadakowa Shoten to file joint suits against him through Japan’s Content Overseas Distribution Association.”
The CODA made it clear they will not tolerate this type of content. They stated, “Numerous websites that extract text from movies and other content have been identified and are considered problematic as so-called ‘spoiler sites. While these actions tend to be perceived as less serious than piracy sites or illegal uploads that upload the content itself, they are clear copyright infringements that go beyond the scope of fair use and are serious crimes.”
