Volume II

Issue : 7: April 1, 2004

• Philippines Government to Benefit from Online Gambling
• World Trade Organization Rules that the U.S. Should be Opened to Internet Gambling
• Accountant Sues Search Engines for Libel for "Injurious" Search Results
• Court Finds New York Times Liable for Defamation for Use of Companys Graphic in Article
• Japanese Court Finds No Copyright Exists in Web News Headlines
• European Union Hits Microsoft with Record $613 Million Fine for Antitrust Abuses
• B.C. Supreme Court Finds Potential Liability for Chat Room Owners over Postings
• German Court Rules Pop-Up Ads Require Permission
• The Dutch Supreme Court Rules ISP can Ban Spammers
• Privacy Commissioner of Canada Releases New Decisions
• California Appeals Court Finds Personal Jurisdiction over Two Out-of-State Businesses
• Canadian Federal Court Dismisses Motion to Compel ISP to Disclose Identity of File Sharers

Home > Volume II > Issue 7: April 1, 2004 > Japanese Court Finds No Copyright Exists in Web News Headlines

Japanese Court Finds No Copyright Exists in Web News Headlines

On March 24, 2004, the Tokyo District Court ruled that using Internet news headlines without permission does not constitute copyright infringement. The case involved a suit by Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun against Internet services firm Digital Alliance. Digital Alliance had copied news headlines from Yomiuri Shimbun's website onto a separate website and hypertext linked the headlines to the underlying article.

Judge Toshiaki Iimura held that"using headlines that are open to the public on the Internet without authorization does not constitute a copyright violation."In particular, Judge Iimura denied that the headlines were creative expression, stating:"These headlines were created within 25 characters, and either stated objective facts, or used only very short qualifying words, and cannot be described as creative expression."

For further information, visit:
http://www12.mainichi.co.jp/news/mdn/search-news/900717/copyright20court20news-0-1.html