Tokyo, Oct. 9 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Supreme Court on Friday upheld a damages order against a website operator who made imitation band scores available for free. The top court’s Second Petty Bench thus finalized the Tokyo High Court order that the website operator pay about 169 million yen in damages to the plaintiff, Fairy Inc., the Tokyo-based publisher of the original band scores. The Supreme Court found that the defendant had imitated scores for at least 579 band songs over about six and a half years, evading the heavy burden of compiling band scores. It noted that the plaintiff experienced a temporary sales slump. This is the first time the top court has acknowledged compensation liability for violating business interests through the use of works not protected by Japan’s copyright law, such as music scores. Unlike songs, music scores are not recognized as creative works under the law. According to the ruling, band songs are usually produced through sessions at recording studios and often lack complete scores. The plaintiff sells band scores produced by transcribing songs and paying song usage fees to the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, or JASRAC. The defendant purchased these band scores and uploaded imitation versions to its website to earn advertising revenue. In 2021, Tokyo District Court dismissed the score publisher’s damages claim, noting that there were differences between the original and imitation versions. In 2024, however, the high court reversed the ruling, pointing out that more than 90 pct of the two versions were identical. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
