International Law

Winny Developer Acquitted

By Karl-Friedrich Lenz

The Osaka High Court has acquitted Winny developer Isamu Kaneko from charges of copyright violation.

I have commented on that case five years ago, when Kaneko was first arrested. And I have discussed the question of secondary liability for dual-use software a couple of weeks ago.

I don’t have much to add. As far as criminal liability is concerned, as in this case, any conviction would need to show a clearly workable and convincing standard to explain why the Internet as such is not illegal, but the software in question is. FTP has been around since 1971. Computers could always exchange files on the net. That clear and workable standard does not seem to exist, giving any convicting verdicts in the field a strong chilling effect.

Full post as published by Lenz Blog on October 08, 2009 (boomark / email).