Ad skipping illegal in Japan?

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Ad skipping illegal in Japan?

Cnet has an interesting bit on their blog: Skipping TV ads illegal in Japan.

We've heard a lot of crazy stuff from the mouth of broadcasters terrified that empowered customers might actually disrupt their business model, but the news from Japan goes even further, saying that reportedly ad skipping "may be a violation of Japan's copyright law." That's a pretty incredible claim, and the Yahoo Asia news piece referenced is gone, so hopefully it's an error, or a hoax, because I'd hate to see broadcasters use copyright law as a weapon against people just wanting to enjoy their television programming.

by Matt Haughey July 20, 2005 in News

Comments

Matt, the Kyodo News article is gone, but it's up at Japan Today.

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=feature&id=956

However, the gentleman from the NACB has been quoted differently, so it may be a translation error. One translation, from the Japan Today quote page says, "Skipping the commercials might amount to a violation of the Copyright Law."

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=quote

In this case, MIGHT, is the operative word.

The electronics manufacturers cannot put the FFWD genie back into the bottle, so I highly doubt there's any legitimacy to this guy's claim. If any of the DVR/PVR manufactuers cut out that functionality, their sales would drop unless ALL of them cut that functionality at once.

Chalk this one up to bad translation and let's wait and see if there's any follow up.

Posted by: Gen Kanai at Jul 21, 2005 12:48:43 AM

Here's some followup, albeit in Japanese. Basically, the spokesman from the NACB did say "might" ("kanousei ga aru" in Japanese). No matter what he said though, it's a clear case of fear-mongering on the part of the NACB. A spokesman from Japan's Copyright Information Center tears his statement to shreds in reply, even going as far to say that use of the Japanese copright law to make consumers watch commercials might be an infringement of their constitutional human rights!

http://www3.asahi.com/opendoors/apcnews/news/news20041215_j02.html

Posted by: Scott at Jul 21, 2005 2:58:47 AM

Doesn't make sense to me... 'cause when I lived in Japan, my VCR had a function that would skip commercials.

Posted by: Michael at Jul 21, 2005 1:26:44 PM

So, you can be fined for going to the kitchen during a commerical?

Posted by: Kevin Murphy at Aug 3, 2005 12:44:59 AM