Winny creator guilty in copyright violations

KYOTO (Kyodo) The man who developed the Winny file-sharing program was found guilty Wednesday and fined 1.5 million yen for assisting users in copyright violations.

Isamu Kaneko speaks Wednesday in Kyoto after being convicted of copyright violations. KYODO PHOTO

It is the first case in which a program's creator has been charged over the unlawful acts of its users.

Prosecutors had sought one year in prison for former University of Tokyo researcher Isamu Kaneko, 36, claiming he developed the program intending to destroy the copyright system and promoted unlawful copying of protected content.

The program allows users to exchange files, including computer games and movies, over the Internet for free.

"The defendant made Winny public on his home page, assisting users (of the software) to easily violate copyrights," said presiding Judge Makoto Himuro of the Kyoto District Court, calling the acts "selfish and irresponsible."

But Himuro also said that "although the defendant was fully aware of his copyright violations, it cannot be said that he intended to spread violations." The judge also acknowledged Winny's legitimate usefulness as "meaningful."

Kaneko's counsel appealed the ruling later in the day.

He had pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers argued he merely experimented with a new technology and had no intention of destroying the copyright system as he even requested that people not use it for illegal purposes.

"If developers are judged to be aiding crime, absolutely no technological development will be tolerated in the future," one of Kaneko's lawyers said.

Kaneko developed Winny in May 2002 and posted it on his Web site. He was arrested in May 2004.

Two people who used the software to share movies and other files have been found guilty of violating the copyright law.

Copyright damages caused by the free program is estimated at about 10 billion yen, according to the Association of Copyright for Computer Software, which works for and researches the protection of copyrights of digital works.

Winny enables the transfer of files over the Internet, and a number of information leaks involving the program, including defense secrets as well as investigative and medical information, have been reported.

Kaneko started writing computer programs when he was in elementary school. After graduating from college, he joined the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, now the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, as a researcher, and was later hired as a researcher at the University of Tokyo.

At present, he is continuing his research as a technical adviser at a software development firm in Tokyo.