Marking a first, an unemployed 31-year old has been arrested in Japan this week for sharing unauthorized TV shows via BitTorrent.
The arrest is the first ever in Japan for torrent use.
Shuichiro Tanaka of Saitama Prefecture was arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s cyber crimes division for allegedly uploading and sharing TV shows.
The authorities said that from June 4th to 9th, Tanaka captured the programs using his computer then uploaded them via BitTorrent.
Over the course of the year, Tanaka allegedly uploaded 165 episodes of different shows such as “Waratte Iitomo” and “Genius! Shimura Zoo.”
When asked why he uploaded the shows, Tanaka plainly said: “I did it for people who missed the programs. Because there is a potential for viruses on Winny [another popular Japanese peer-to-peer file sharing program] and others, I used BitTorrent, which I heard police weren’t investigating.”
Result for: file sharing
CNET is reporting this weekend that they have uncovered documents revealing that the music trade group RIAA wants LimeWire shut down for good.
The RIAA has requested that a Manhattan District Court give them a permanent injunction against the P2P client, effectively shutting it down in the United States.
Write the RIAA lawyers: “Every day that Lime Wire’s conduct continues unabated guarantees harm to plaintiffs that money damages cannot and will not compensate. The scope of the infringements that Lime Wire induced…boggles the mind.”
Last month, Judge Kimba Wood found the once-extremely popular file sharing service liable of copyright infringement in a 4-year-old lawsuit brought against them by the RIAA. The decision was seen as the final nail in the company’s coffin.
Kimba will now meet with LimeWire and the RIAA’s representatives, where the judge can grant the injunction and seal the service’s fate.
Responded LimeWire: “We are looking forward to an opportunity to address the Court for the first time in two years and show that as a matter of fact and law there is no support for this motion.”
Result for: file sharing
The once-extremely popular file sharing service LimeWire has been found liable of copyright infringement today in a 4-year-old lawsuit brought against them by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) threatening to put the final nail in the company’s coffin.
U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood noted that users of LimeWire perform “a substantial amount of copyright infringement” and that LimeWire “has not taken meaningful steps to mitigate infringement.”
The RIAA’s lawsuit was seeking up to $150,000 USD per infringement, and the suit alleged that 93 percent of LimeWire’s traffic was unauthorized file sharing. At its peak, LimeWire had 50 million unique users.
Adds the RIAA (via Wired): “LimeWire is one of the largest remaining commercial peer-to-peer services. Unlike other P2P services that negotiated licenses, imposed filters or otherwise chose to discontinue their illegal conduct following the Supreme Court’s decision in the Grokster case, LimeWire instead thumbed its nose at the law and creators.”
The RIAA and LimeWire will meet again with Judge Kimba Wood on June 1 to see how to proceed.
Read the full decision here: RIAA v. LimeWire.
