Japanese gamers apparently face arrest if they lend their games to friends – police recently executed a search warrant based on the unauthorised lending of 5 games, charging the lender with copyright infringement.
Police raided a Kobe hotel after discovering they had freely provided Wii and PS3 consoles and games to guests, confiscating games and consoles as evidence.
The hotel, “Swing,” is accused of lending the games to at least 5 customers during 2010. In an unusual application of copyright law, police are charging the hotel with copyright violation, specifically the “screening” the games to guests without permission from the copyright holder.
Police are also investigating whether they were secretly operating a love hotel, another very serious crime.
Commercial game rental itself is illegal in Japan, but as freely lending a game to another party may constitute “unauthorised display,” gamers are also wondering if they face arrest for merely lending games to each other.
In particular, this rather draconian interpretation of the law suggests that virtually the entirety of Japan’s manga cafe industry is in fact illegal, as they likely do not seek permission from every copyright holder of the products they lend to customers on their premises.
This is an easy fix for buy the games and they will be forced to. And tell them why make it public
i wonder whats next? lol
cant lend games in japan, next you cant play on your friends console in his house because its not yours so breaks copyright? lol
or
i visit my friends house for a talk, get a drink of water and i get prosecuted by the water company for drinking someone else’s water?
lol
Dude, u bought the game and the product is yours!!! The company has no rights over then product after u have bought it!!! It is absurd to arrest someone who lends games to others!!! The product is yours got it!!! They cant arrest u!!!
Another case where the cops wanted to get this business for something and/or needed a justification for a warrant, so they found a very obscure portion of Japanese law to get the justification for a warrant.
That happens here in the United States quite often as well. Thankfully, over here, it’s looked down upon by judges who get pissed by end-runs around the law, very devious or not.
…see kids… if you had at least a bit of interest in law and order, you would know how much bull s♥♥t these police investigators are doing… I mean, sure, otaku-culture is fun, but to have some interest in politics can also be benefitial, since you call this bull s♥♥t, and probably win a suit against the government, proclaiming that the interpretation of such law is bull s♥♥t.