First arrest in Japan of a Let’s Play creator over copyright infringement

4 comments

1. Couldn’t find an English article on the subject yet, but I heard on the radio just now that police in Miyagi Prefecture have made the first arrest of a creator of “Let’s Play” videos for infringement of copyright. Specifically the visual novel game “Steins;Gate: My Darling’s Embrace.” (Whatever that is)

   In Japan, at least, the ability to create and broadcast videos of game content is largely determined by guidelines set by publishers. In the case of games that are story heavy, these guidelines can be pretty strict about what is allowed to be shared.

   Just thought it was interesting.

2. English article:

   https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-05-18/police-arrest-japanese-youtuber-for-uploading-gameplay-anime-footage/.198187

3. I seriously thought the title was indicating that one of the founders of the group “Let’s Play” was arrested, because “Let’s Play” was capitalized and the phrasing.

   I was exceptionally confused because as far as I know, all of them still live in Austin, Texas.

4. Is copyright infringement a criminal, rather than civil, issue in Japan?