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3 Men Charged With Sharing Shinkai's 'your name.' Film Online

The Osaka Prefectural Police's Anti-Cybercrime Division filed charges against three suspects on Monday for violating the Copyright Act by sharing Makoto Shinkai's your name. film without permission.

According to the police, the three male suspects include a 48-year-old local government employee in Kaizuka City in Osaka Prefecture. The charges allege that the suspects used the file-sharing software "Share" on their home computers to share the movie between September and October. The police notes that when a user downloads a file on Share, the user's computer is simultaneously and automatically sharing the file with others on the Internet. The suspects allegedly admitted to the charges by stating that they downloaded the file to watch for personal enjoyment.

According to the police, the video shared was originally a sample version distributed to people in the industry with English and Chinese subtitles.

Shizuoka police previously charged a man from Kanagawa in November for uploading the same movie using the same "Share" file-sharing software. According to police, that particular file had high video quality, and had Chinese and English subtitles. The suspect allegedly admitted to the charges.

The film opened in Japan last August, and has become the fourth highest-grossing film of all time in Japan, the second highest-grossing Japanese film, and the second highest-grossing anime film. As of this month, the film has earned 24.2 billion yen (about US$212 million) in Japan. Funimation will open the film in the United States and Canada on April 7. The company will host film screenings in both the original Japanese with English subtitles and an English dub.

Sources: 47 News, Mainichi via Hachima Kikō