The Yomiuri Shimbun, with a daily circulation of 14 million
copies – which it says is the world's largest – took Kobe-based
Digital Alliance to court, alleging that its web site had used
duplicates of the newspaper headlines or had made minor amendments
to them in breach of copyright.
According to a report in the Mainichi Daily News, The Yomiuri
Shimbun asked Tokyo District Court for an injunction and damages of
68 million yen (around £350,000).
The court refused, with Judge Toshiaki limura ruling: "Using
headlines that are open to the public on the internet without
authorisation does not constitute a copyright violation".
He added, "These headlines were created within 25 characters,
and either stated objective facts, or used only very short
qualifying words, and cannot be described as creative
expression".
The newspaper is set to appeal, reports the Mainichi Daily
News.
