A 42-year-old Japanese male walked into his local cineplex and started watching the latest Gundam flick. As well as recording the anime's audio with his phone. He is now in police custody.
While piracy is only thought to be, you know, filming the actual screen, Japanese copyright law covers audio, too. Under a 2007 ruling, video and audio recordings are banned for the first eight months after a film's opening day for paying audience members, reports the Anime News Network. After that, go buckwild?
This is only Japan's second prosecuted case for recording in a movie theater, and the first one in which only audio was recorded. Before movies start in movie theaters, there are warning messages about recording.
The suspect apparently recorded only the audio for the new Gundam 00 film and was reported to the theater staff by a fellow audience member. The 42-year-old told authorities that he recorded the soundtrack for his own listening enjoyment. Apparently, the man enjoys listening to crappy cell phone recordings of movie theater music.
Since the suspect recorded only the audio, does that mean if he's found guilty, he'll only be served half a penalty? Probably not!
Gundam 00 features in the new Super Robot Wars game for the PSP, slated for release this spring in Japan.
Man Charged with Recording Audio from Gundam 00 Film [Anime News Network]