The building where the Osaka District Court is housed is seen in Osaka's Kita Ward in this file photo taken on Nov. 27, 2020. (Mainichi/Akira Hattori)

       OSAKA -- Reposting subtitles from a YouTube video without permission constitutes copyright infringement, the Osaka District Court has ruled, after a man filed a lawsuit over a blog's publication of subtitles from one of his videos.

       The court ruled on Sept. 6 that "subtitles are linguistic copyrighted material." Tokyo Bar Association lawyer Jun Hasuike, who represented the plaintiff, said a judicial ruling that acknowledges copyright infringement of subtitles is rare.

       With the rapid increase in the number of people using YouTube, Hasuike warned, "If you carelessly repost subtitles without the permission of the creator, it could be recognized as infringement, and you may be asked to compensate them. Please make sure in advance if there is any problem with what you are doing."

       The man who filed the lawsuit runs a popular YouTube channel with over 50,000 subscribers. He posts videos of little-known and moving stories about animals with edited subtitles.

       According to the ruling, the man in June 2020 posted a seven-minute video about a young lion that was rescued by people in Africa. The video was edited by putting multiple images together and inserting self-made subtitles that introduce the story, such as: "There is a lion raised by humans." The number of views reached some 10 million, and the video attracted widespread attention.

       Under these circumstances, an anonymously operated blog shared the man's video, and reposted almost all of the subtitles as an introductory text. YouTube's terms of service states that creators' permission is not necessary when citing videos in certain ways, but rules on subtitles are not clearly defined.

       The plaintiff argued that "subtitles are copyrighted works that express the individuality of the creator," and that if the contents are introduced without permission, it will lead to "spoilers" that eliminate the need to watch the videos, leading to a decrease in the number of views, thereby affecting his income.

       In preparation to seek damages from the operator of the blog, the man filed a lawsuit in March 2021 asking for the internet service provider to disclose personal information such as the blog operator's name and address. The service provider argued that "the subtitles are only simple expressions that help the viewers' understanding, and cannot be recognized as copyrighted works."

       The Osaka court ruling, however, acknowledged that when editing the subtitles, the plaintiff "put care into the composition and quantity with the intention of attracting viewers' interest," and deemed them copyrighted material that expressed the thoughts and feelings of the creator.

       Presiding Judge Masaki Sugiura examined the content of the introductory text that was reposted on the blog without the creator's permission. Though it doesn't completely match the subtitles, the text includes summaries and only minor changes, and Sugiura pointed out, "It expresses basically the same content." He acknowledged it as a reproduction of copyrighted material and thus copyright infringement, and ordered the service provider to disclose information on the blog's operator.

       (Japanese original by Yumi Shibamura, Osaka City News Department)

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