Japanese TV, Music, Film Coalition Targets YouTube

TOKYO, August 2: A coalition of Japanese TV, film and music
companies has lashed out at YouTube, according to the Associated Press,
accusing the Google-owned site of not doing enough to remove pirated clips.

There is a host of bootleg Japanese content available on
YouTube, including numerous clips from a variety show called Gaki No Tsukai, airing on Nippon TV, one of which has been viewed
almost 700,000 times.

The site has reportedly become very successful in Japan,
prompting YouTube to launch a local-language version earlier this summer.

"YouTube has to stop how it runs its site and get rid
of the illegal clips,” composer Hideki Matsutake is quoted as saying at a press
conference in Tokyo today. “We want them to reset the service. There is no
middle ground. We demand that all copyrighted material be removed
immediately."

YouTube says it is working on technology to prevent the
upload of copyrighted content to the service, and reportedly already deleted
some 30,000 unauthorized clips after a complaint by the Japanese coalition in
October.