Man held over software allowing unlimited copies of TV shows

MATSUYAMA, Ehime Pref. (Kyodo) A 39-year-old man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of violating copyright law by selling software that deactivates a DVD recorder function that prevents unlimited copying of digital broadcast TV programs, police said.

Pirate program: Police in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, display a personal computer and illegal software that deactivate the Dubbing 10 function on DVD recorders. KYODO PHOTO

The arrest of Tetsuya Masumura is the first for illegal sales of the software, which deactivates the Dubbing 10 function on DVD recorders, making it possible to produce unlimited DVD copies of the broadcasts, police said.

Masumura was arrested for allegedly selling the software to an 18-year-old college student in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, for ¥650 and to a 28-year-old man in Yuki, Ibaraki Prefecture, for ¥850, over the Internet in October 2008, the police said.

Police quoted Masumura as saying he did it "to earn some pocket money." They said they are investigating how he obtained the software.

Masumura is suspected of selling the software to 712 people last year, earning about ¥493,000, according to sources close to the investigation.

He works at a Toshiba Corp. factory in Saku, Nagano Prefecture, making rechargeable batteries for industrial use.

The college student in Matsuyama, meanwhile, is believed to have sold copies of the software to at least 240 people, earning some ¥145,000, the sources said, adding that police will soon send their case against him to prosecutors.

Dubbing 10 removes programs from the hard disks of DVD recorders after the 10th copy. It has been installed on DVD recorders since July 2008 to protect the copyrights of digital TV programs.