Website owner gets prison sentence, fine for posting ‘spoiler article’ of Godzilla movie

Godzilla's head is unveiled as the irradiated monster was appointed special resident and tourism ambassador for Tokyo's Shinjuku ward during its awards ceremony in Tokyo on Thursday, April 9, 2015. The giant Godzilla head towering 52 metres above ground level was unveiled Thursday at an office of Toho, the studio behind the 1954 original. (AP / Shizuo Kambayashi)

A Japanese man has been sentenced to prison and fined for posting a “spoiler article” about the “Godzilla Minus One” movie.

According to The Asahi Shimbun, an English-language Japanese outlet, a Tokyo court punished Wataru Takeuchi, 39, for an article on his website summarizing the 2023 monster movie, which they determined was filled with so many details that it violated copyright law.

Takeuchi was sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined a million yen (approximately C$8,500). However, his prison sentence was suspended for four years and he immediately appealed the verdict.

The alleged spoiler article included 12 movie stills and dialogue taken directly from the film, according to The Asahi Shimbun. The court determined that although the medium of film reviews was different than films themselves, and that movie recaps are generally considered legal, the article was so detailed that it violated copyright law.

“The main point (about adaptation) was the extent to which creative expressions from the original movie, such as the unique plot or dialogue, remained in the spoiler article,” Tatsuhiro Ueno, a law professor at the Tokyo-based Waseda University, told the Japanese newspaper.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, another Japanese newspaper, reported that prosecutors told the court the website had been operating since 2015 and earned about 24 million yen (more than C$205,000) in 2022, and 36 million yen (nearly C$310,000) in 2023.

“It is easy to evoke the film from the articles, and it is clear that the defendant continued posting them for advertising revenue while being aware that they were illegal,” a prosecutor said, according to The Yomiuri Shimbun.

Takeuchi called his website “a worthwhile business that introduces Japanese entertainment,” The Yomiuri Shimbun reported. The offending article has since been taken down.