The author of the popular Japanese P2P software Winny has been convicted and fined by a Kyoto district court. Isamu Kaneko, a researcher at Tokyo University, was arrested all the way back in May 2004. The Winny software has been used to distribute copyrighted material and had over half a million users earlier this year. This week, a court found Kaneko guilty of enabling copyright infringement, and fined him ¥1.5m.
In the United States, the supreme court ruled in the Grokster case that developers/operators of software/services who induce copyright infringement may be found liable for the acts of infringement. However, U.S. courts have yet to prosecute software developers that the supreme court ruling would apply to.
Source:
Reg Developer












