CASE WATCH
Recent Supreme Court decisions
Summaries of Supreme Court of Japan decisions that contain a substantive ruling or separate opinions. Newest first.
These are unofficial summaries of decisions newly published on the website of the Courts in Japan, prepared weekly. They are not official translations or headnotes, they may contain errors or omissions, and they do not comment on the decisions. Please check the original Japanese text before relying on them. Nothing here is legal advice or an offer of legal services.
Article 5(2) of the Provider Liability Limitation Act as amended in 2021 applies to login communications made before the amendment took effect; a login communication has the "substantial relevance to the transmission of the infringing information" required by the regulations only, as a rule, if it is the login closest in time to that transmission.
Case seeking disclosure of sender identification information, etc. — Judgment: partly quashed with the Court's own decision, partly dismissed
A person whose rights were infringed by a post made before the 2020 ministerial ordinance added telephone numbers to the categories of sender information may, after that ordinance took effect, demand disclosure of the sender's telephone number.
Case seeking disclosure of sender identification information — Judgment: quashed with the Court's own decision
A user who retweeted a post containing an unauthorized copy of a photograph, where the platform's specifications cropped the image so that the author's name was no longer displayed, infringed the author's right of attribution and was the "sender of the infringing information" under Article 4(1) of the Provider Liability Limitation Act.
Case seeking disclosure of sender identification information — Judgment: appeal dismissed
A provider that declined an out-of-court disclosure demand is liable in damages for "gross negligence" under Article 4(4) of the Provider Liability Limitation Act only where it knew that the statutory requirements for disclosure were met, or where they were so plainly met that failing to recognize this was grossly negligent.
Case seeking disclosure of sender identification information, etc. — Judgment: partly quashed with the Court's own decision, partly dismissed
An access provider that carries the communication between a poster and a content provider for a posting on an internet bulletin board is a "specified telecommunications service provider" under Article 2(iii) of the Provider Liability Limitation Act and may be the respondent to a disclosure demand.
Case seeking disclosure of sender identification information — Judgment: appeal dismissed
The Court reversed a judgment that had found a factual error in a first-instance judgment recognizing the negligence of a boat operator, holding that the judgment below misapplied Article 382 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and dismissed the appeal.
Professional negligence resulting in death or injury (criminal case) — Judgment; judgment below reversed and the appeal dismissed
The Court upheld the lower court's holding that imitating in detail musical scores that are not copyrightable works, and publishing the imitations free of charge on a website, constituted a tort.
Claim for damages — Judgment; final appeal dismissed
The Court reversed the judgment below and the first-instance judgment, which had tried and adjudicated thefts added by amendment of the count without any prosecution having been instituted and which stood in a relationship of concurrent offenses, as judgments on a case for which adjudication was not requested, and remanded the case to the first-instance court.
Theft and violation of the Act on Punishment of Organized Crimes and Control of Proceeds of Crime (criminal case) — Judgment; judgment below and first-instance judgment reversed and case remanded
The Court held that a creditor who has attached a claim to a refund of fees under Article 9(3) of the Act on Costs of Civil Procedure may apply for a refund under that paragraph in exercise of the right to collect.
Permitted appeal against a decision dismissing an appeal from a decision rejecting an application for refund of fees — Decision; ruling below quashed and the case decided by the Court itself
The Court held unlawful a ruling that, in a share purchase demand by dissenting shareholders in a share exchange, took a competing tender offer proposal into account and fixed as the "fair price" under Article 797(1) of the Companies Act an amount higher than the company's offered price; it quashed that ruling and upheld the first-instance ruling adopting the offered price.
Permitted appeal against a modifying ruling by the appellate court on a decision fixing the purchase price of shares — Decision; ruling below quashed and the appeals against the first-instance ruling dismissed
The Court held that a public-offering proposal competition, conducted under an internal rule to determine the preferred negotiating party for a contract, falls within "conducted for the purpose of concluding a contract by bidding" in Article 96-6(1) of the Penal Code.
Obstruction of auction or bidding in relation to a public contract (criminal case) — Judgment; judgment below reversed (appeal of Defendant A dismissed; case against Defendant B remanded)
The Court upheld a judgment allowing a ward to claim damages equivalent to rent from a disaster evacuee who stayed in ward housing after the period of emergency temporary housing had ended.
Claim for surrender of a building, etc. — Judgment; final appeal dismissed
Bid coordination among four designated contractors for new underground Shinkansen terminal stations was held to substantially restrain competition, because each of the four was realistically able to supply the work.
Violation of the Act on Prohibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade (criminal) — Decision; final appeals dismissed
The Court dismissed a foreign resident's appeal over the rejection of a public assistance application as raising no ground for final appeal; a dissenting opinion would hold part of the nationality requirement unconstitutional.
Claim for an order to grant public assistance — Decision; final appeal dismissed