Japanese Music Chart Company Sues Man Who Questions Their Methodology

from the free-speech? dept

Tue, Jan 23rd 2007 11:09am — Mike Masnick

Doug in Kamakura writes in to let us know about an unfortunate lawsuit in Japan. "Oricon -- Japan's analog to Billboard in the United States and top music industry ranking chart provider -- filed a civil suit against freelance writer and music critic Ugaya Hiro in Tokyo District Court for damaging the ranking chart's "honor and credibility" through a quote used in a April 2006 issue of Cyzo (Saizou) magazine. Oricon is demanding 50,000,000 JPY ($416,666) in compensation from Ugaya."" They're not suing the magazine that published the article. They're not asking for a retraction of the article. They're just suing the guy the author of the article called up for a quote and who gave his opinion, questioning the ranking methodology of the Oricon charts. In fact, Oricon even admits that they only want Ugaya to "shut up" and issue an apology. Perhaps Japan should looking into passing a SLAPP law to prevent this kind of thing.

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8 Comments

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misanthropic humanist, 23 Jan 2007 @ 11:23am

self defeating
Way to silence your critics, start a huge public debate about something you could have quietly ignored. I suppose they never heard of the Streisand effect. Now everybody in Japan will look at these bullys and assume (rightfuly or not) that their ranking system *is* flawed.
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Jeff, 23 Jan 2007 @ 11:42am

Woah
for damaging the ranking chart's "honor and credibility" through a quote

so Japan really IS like it is in the cartoons...sweet, RL hentai pls
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PhysicsGuy, 23 Jan 2007 @ 11:54am

Re: Woah
you mean you've never participated in tentacle s&m?
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Scheffy, 23 Jan 2007 @ 11:54am

Phew...
Well, at the least it's refreshing to hear idiotic lawsuits aren't exclusively an American problem...
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Sanguine Dream, 23 Jan 2007 @ 11:55am

I know!
The reason companies try to sue critics is to draw public attention to the "significant blow" that will dealt to the critic. A "let that be a lesson to you" type thing. They figure if they can drag them out into the public eye and force them to pay up, shut up, or admit being wrong then the Streisand Effect will work in their favor.
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chris, 23 Jan 2007 @ 12:24pm

Proud Companies
I am reminded of the old adage - "Pride comes before a fall" - not exactly music to their ears, but equally true for companies as for individuals methinks.
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Bill, 23 Jan 2007 @ 2:38pm

hmmm
Lets hope for the sake of the author Oricon has never heard of the Chewbaca defense.
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ScytheNoire, 23 Jan 2007 @ 7:02pm

glad to see the music industry in other countries screwing up also. helps the global cause.
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